Oh, a fellow ビブリア enjoyer. Now I am even more curious how you’ll like 夜は短し 
I agree. While it was difficult, a lot comes from the non-sensical stuff, rather than the language used.
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Me too 
I only read the first series, though, but I’m considering reading the second one as well, if people tell me it’s good too.
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I have only read books 1&2 so far. I hope to read the rest this year. Unfortunately the audiobooks are on dwango. Would have loved to listen to them. 
Might just switch from audible for a couple of months, to get them. 
Second seriesってthis?
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Yes. It focuses on 扉子 (I assume) instead of 栞子.
(Also, the numbering got reset)
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Finished 本を守ろう (liked it!), so it’s now time for something from my physical shelf and I decided on the first (of 42?) つれつれノート only to realise, I didn’t have it added to natively yet. 
oh well… nothing that a request and a bit of time can’t fix. Also, we really need a non-fiction or essays or something category. “Others” is just so broad.
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Yes, I know. I voted on that a while back. I am eagerly awaiting the implementation, but I don’t want to stress Brandon.
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Whoops, sorry about that then. 
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Almost finished reading Orange, hoping to knock out the last 40 pages or so today. This is only the second novel I’ve read now, but the progress in reading skills over just the last month have been pretty crazy. When I started, I could only do around 5 pages at a snail’s pace before needing to take a break. It’s really quite a liberating feeling
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After a couple of days struggling to find the motivation to read ahead with(島はぼくらと | L30??, I just picked 神様 | L33 which was recommended to me by @Athakaspen. It was really good! I couldn’t put it down (and I just finished it in 1.5 sittings… I somehow stopped yesterday after reading the second story, then just read everything else today).
It’s a collection of short stories based on strange or supernatural events and, contrary to what I complained about in 夜は短し歩けよ乙女 (which has a similar structure overall), the “grounding” here felt excellent. Through the main character, it’s easy to feel if something is uncommon, bizarre, or plain scary. However, the main character recovers quickly from her shock or surprise, which allows the plot to move forward.
My only problem with the book is that it felt too short… I wish we had more time for recurring characters to develop… but at the same time I also feel like it’s the perfect length someone? So that we are just left wondering.
I guess my rambling doesn’t really make sense without reading the book, but, anyway, highly recommended!
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I’m glad you liked it! It’s one of the first things I read, so I’m sure I missed a lot but it was still really fun. I should really re-read it sometime soon.
Also, you should check out 神様2011 if you haven’t yet, a new version of the first story written after the 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster. It’s an interesting look at the emotions and fears people were feeling around that time, and especially gripping when you have the original story to compare it with.
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i’m reading 少女革命ウテナ 1 | L23. i started it back in august, but didn’t get very far. i’m most of the way through the fourth volume now, and really really enjoying it.
i first watched the anime many years ago, and it’s been a favourite of mine ever since. with a few rewatches, i know the characters and plot quite well. going into the manga, i knew to expect some differences. and there are plenty, sometimes small details, sometimes quite large differences. but the characters remain true to themselves.
and the characters are really the core of Utena. they are layered and complex, and few (if any) are unequivocally good or evil (expect for the main villain, he is a manipulative, gaslighting, abusive bastard. almost as bad as kyubei (from Madoka Magika)). it’s a delight to see Utena and Anshii grow and develop.
talking about abusive bastards, there is violence in here. often very cold, calculated, manipulative violence. the physical violence is restrained, never gratuitous. but with much fewer comedic elements than the anime, and the ability to pause whenever it feels right, i find that the manga hits harder.
fully recommended, and i’m really looking forward to discovering how it ends in the manga! 
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I have one volume left (which I’ll get around to when my book club assignments aren’t piling up 
) and hard agree to everything in this post, but especially this. He’s evil in a really realistic way, despite how fantastical everything else is.
I’m overall enjoying the manga, but Juri’s arc and Miki’s arc where my favorites from the anime, and the manga just didn’t live up to those for me.
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I grew up with stuff like Utena and 90s BL… It’s a miracle I even know what a healthy relationship looks like.
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in particular i’d have liked to see more of Juri, yeah. their arcs got sacrificed to length, i guess?
thinking about it, this is why i compared him to Kyubei. because in Madoka Magica also, if you wash away all the fantastical elements, you have a very clear portrayal of what this kind of abuse looks like.
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Today I finished reading とんがり帽子のアトリエ 11 | L28 and NEW GAME! 5 | L22.
とんがり帽子 is beautiful as always, but also frustrating as is often the case. The story doesn’t progress fast enough and introduces too many convoluted elements. A simpler (and more focused) story that moved more quickly would be more to my liking. (And honestly, I’d prefer if it was a bit darker.) The only reason I keep reading it is because of the art and because I read it with a reading buddy.
For New Game, I was surprised that I enjoyed volume 5. I don’t find the series to be very funny compared to my favorite Manga Time Kirara series, but I enjoy the story and characters. However volume 5 is a spinoff/prequel volume showing Aoba in her senior year of high school, meaning it doesn’t move the main story forward at all. But I still enjoyed it just as much as the first four volumes.
I also bought 28 (I kid you not) volumes of Manga Time Kirara manga because there was a crazy 55 yen sale. So those 28 volumes cost what 2 volumes would normally cost. The thing is, this sale was just for first volumes in a series, so I now have 28 new series to check out. I’m sure I’ll be back to post a poll in "What should I read next?" Megathread soon enough, because I’m going to have trouble deciding what to read!
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Aaaah I went to the book store yesterday and forgot to buy this one. Bah.
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Just finished it. There were some unfortunate production decisions towards the end (they used this echo effect for some of the dialogue in the flashbacks that made it a bit hard to understand), but overall the audiobook was really great. I loved the book when I read it the first time and the audiobook added even more emotion. Highly recommend.
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I noticed yesterday that you hadn’t read book 11 yet. Guess I should have said something!
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