Just weird with the title. The last chapter is titled 忘れられた物語.
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I’m not surprised, but that’s a bit sad.
Oh come on now. Seems like a low bar to call it 忘れられし物語.
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Hello everyone 
I’m a long-time lurker sneaking in and stealing book reccs but thought it would be nice to say hello.
I’m finishing the final chapters of 天使禁猟区 by Kaori Yuki. I loved* this series as a tween, back in 2003 (aka the stone ages), so using the release of the collectors editions as an excuse to revisit it for the first time in 21 years as an adult and in Japanese rather than in English translation has been fun. I tried to be ~aloof and ~cool and read all the ridiculous melodramatic stuff ~ironically, but I won’t lie, I did get emotionally involved in the story and characters, who felt like old friends I hadn’t see in a long time (…cheesy I know). And it is a rollicking good read, despite a couple of volumes where there’s a lull early on and everyone’s just hanging out in the upper levels of hell waiting for more interesting characters to show up.
*(like, wrote embarrassing fanfic on ff . net level loved)
While it has been fun, I am really looking forward to my next read being a novel rather than a manga and something more down-to-earth rather than epic fantasy. I need a wee bit less melodrama and flowing hair and silly outfits and shouting for a little while. Something with vocabulary that is not stuff like “original sin” or “bacchanal”.
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Hello! Great to have you here!
Could you give a small overview of the series? The cover art is so pretty, and I looked at the Japanese summary on Amazon, but I feel like I don’t really have a grasp of what the story is about, you know?
I notice in your profile you list enjoying horror? Would you be interested in reading the horror club’s next book?
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Ooooo, that‘s a good idea! I must confess I‘ve started a bit early, and it’s such a nice read, the author is amazing at creating a vivid atmosphere, and the story starts out very promising as well. I think the author is on the way to becoming one of my favorites 
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Oh that sounds fun! I’ll buy a copy thank you. I’m quite a slow reader so I might not be able to keep up with everyone.
Sorry, I don’t know how to quote text yet, but 天使禁猟区 is a VERY 90s shojo manga (with all of the tropes that go along with that) about a high school boy who is a reincarnation of a female fallen angel named Alexiel who rebelled against god. From there… epic fantasy hijinks ensue across heaven, hell, earth etc etc. Also he’s in love with his sister, which is understandably frowned upon. I guess it’s sort of like… Beserk (I’ve not read it, this is just based on how I’ve heard people talk about Beserk) or epic high fantasy like Game of Thrones crossed with shojo manga and the Bible? It gets pretty dark and verges on outright horror sometimes. But it’s also sparkly and there’s lots of romance and everyone can be shipped with everyone else and everyone has silly outfits etc. That kind of thing.
To be honest, I’m not sure how it would read to someone not a tween (like I was when I loved it) and/or someone not reading it with a huge sense of nostalgic affection (me now!). I loved it so much when I was young and had an Evanescence CD. It would be interesting to hear an objective view but also I’d say it’s not definitely a “drop everything now and buy all the books” read. The art is gorgeous though!
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It’s an informal club so the schedule is loose.
I say this as someone in two informal clubs where I’m the remaining person unfinished (I’m a fast reader, but undisciplined 
) and I will finish them eventually and go back and poke that discussion to life again
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It’s pretty easy! Just highlight the text you want to quote, and a quote button will pop up to click:
You can also quote someone’s entire post by replying to a specific person (either by the first person you quote or by clicking the “Reply” button below their post) and then clicking the little speech bubble icon here:
You can reply to multiple people in your same reply; just quote someone else while you type your response!
Not to worry! The book club will be eternally open, and while we won’t be enforcing any kind of schedule, there will be an optional one posted if you choose to follow that. People will start earlier and later and read at their own paces, so it’s perfectly fine!
The whole thing sounds pretty wild, not gonna lie, haha. I’m going to add the first volume to my Amazon wishlist, and if it drops price at some point in the future pick it up to try it out. Thanks!
Edit: do you know if this is the digital version of the new collector’s edition or of the original one? I’m guessing the new one due to volume counts, but wasn’t entirely sure.
Edit2: Or wait, maybe it’s a digital edition of a separate bunko collection from earlier in the 2000s…
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I have been reading the physical copies of the new collectors editions - there are ten volumes (two of the old tankobons per volume, and I think the bunko editions from the mid aughts followed the same system) (I can’t buy digital Japanese language books because I don’t have a Japanese credit card and I’m in Europe). I had all the tankobons as a kid but must have given them away at some point (I would “read” them with my basic Japanese while looking at a fan-translated script!!!)
Thank you both for the info on the book club and how to quote - I’m sorry for spamming the thread so much! And for any typos on my cracked phone screen!
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Dang it, I completely forgot to link the actual edition I was talking about. 
It’s this one here.
Bookwalker is an excellent region-free digital store you could use, if you haven’t heard of that. Amazon.co.jp can also be doable; you’ll need a VPN for the first couple of purchases as well as a Japanese address (which can be anything, they don’t check).
Not at all! Feel free to chat here as much as you like; everyone’s really easy-going, and a little bit of a tangent is never a bad thing.
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Only 1 chapter in, but so far hilarious and I’m really looking forward to the rest! (Sry for lack of thumbnail, the physical volume isn’t out yet. I’m reading it in Yurihime)
This one looks like it will really hit in the feels… Chapter 1 was already oof (in a good way)
Currently on Yurihime 2024年4月. I’m actively following about 7-8 series in it, so for each months’s I read, I make progress in 5-7 books - win, win! Tho I have 20ish chapters of the dance manga to catch up with. A lot of the series feel really comfy at this point!
Need to work on those LNs too!
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Would you look at that - the first 2 volumes of that edition are free to read until August 8. That would be 4 of the original release then that’s not bad! I’ll probably revisit it too. 
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I did consider it but I don’t like reading on backlit screens very much (I have a kindle but it’s one of the old e-ink ones) and my phone screen is very cracked at the moment too! I also quite like to scribble in books - sacrilegious I know! I kind of justify buying physical copies to myself as an excuse to use all of the various cute material book covers I’ve somehow amassed over the years.
I started BUTTER by Asako Yuzuki. It’s sort of nice to be back in the real world after a couple of weeks of shojo fantasy. Technically it’s maybe sort of for work so it’s not something I chose myself, but it’s really interesting and the kind of book I would have likely picked up anyway if I saw it in the shops, and my sister is currently reading the English version so it’s cool to be able to share something with her.
I haven’t read a novel in English since the start of the year so I’m thinking of maybe taking a quick Japanese reading break to reset my brain a little.
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I have a whole pile of them and they are all so cute. I can never remember to put them on though! Maybe I need to move the collection to my manga shelf… 
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I finally finished 忘らるる物語 | L34?? and I have to say, I loved the ending.
All the problems I had with the book so far? (Minimal spoiler) Unreliable narrator. Specifically, (major spoiler that I wish I knew, but maybe not because it would really ruin the reveal?) the characters aren’t humans! They have barely reached cognition thanks to a previous, extinct species (possibly humans) and are copying their culture, but are bad at innovation and can barely contain their instincts.
Overall, that book was torture for the first 90-ish%, and great for the last 10%
I’m giving it 2* because, at a 400+ page count, it doesn’t really feel worth it.
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I admire your ability to get through a book like that. I would have dropped it like 10% in.
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I picked up 阿修羅ガール | L28 based on @bungakushoujo 's “recommendation” above.
I’m really enjoying it, especially the writing style. I learned a lot of vocab I wasn’t expecting to from the first chapter： 顔射、包茎、中出し, etc. which was fun. Also, my god 佐野明彦 sucks so much I hate him.
It’s definitely closer to my level than the book I was attempting, so It’s nice to be able to make more than one page of progress a day.
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I talked about the book with my spouse, and they said “oh, if you like to hurt yourself reading, you should read 歯車 | L35”
I have no clue what they meant by that, but it’s only 41 pages according to Natively, so it should be fine?
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I feel like 芥川 is always a coin flip for “reading this will hurt me” 
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歴史的仮名遣い, but I don’t suppose that’s what they had in mind
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