There’s a lot of technical stuff said at full speed. It’s pretty rough to follow. I had to switch to JP sub halfway through (but watched everything without subs as well)
That being said, the highest someone graded it seems to be “similar to lvl 32”. I don’t know how it got 33.
3 Likes
I finished 箱入りドロップス 1 | L21 today. It was good overall, though it has some oddities. The main problem I have with it is that the transition from one 4-koma strip to the next is more jarring than I’m used to. I’m used to there usually being more continuity between each strip with occasional scene changes, but here there are scene changes way more frequently.
Other than that the comedy is somewhat tame, but my favorite recurring gag so far is probably how the main character, who is a 箱入り娘 (hence the title) and therefore has little knowledge of the world, tends to imagine absurd explanations for mundane things. Also, I like how a couple of the characters always give her obviously absurd explanations for things and she tends to believe them.
9 Likes
Just finished 隠れの子 東京バンドワゴン零 | L29 . It’s historical fiction with a fantasy element, and the author is an easy read – I read it fairly quickly over the last two weeks. There are a couple of minor issues with the plotting/pacing that mean I wouldn’t quite actively recommend it to other people unless they were specifically looking for “Edo period fiction that isn’t a difficult read”, but I enjoyed it. (I think the author’s main Tokyo Bandwagon series is better personally. You can read this without having read any of that, though.)
8 Likes
Can I just say how impressed I am that you read a L43 book as your second book in Japanese! I waded through L36 for my second and it was a real struggle 
8 Likes
I’d take that grading with a grain of salt because I’m the only one who has graded it 
I mentioned this in my review of it, but my copy had next to no furigana, so that book was particularly difficult for me to get through at the time. I’d love for more to give it a read and grade it so that there’s more than just my opinion there!
5 Likes
I just finished 世界でいちばん透きとおった物語, which was an intriguing, poignant mystery. The main character’s father, a famous mystery author, passes away, leaving behind a manuscript, which has gone missing. The main character, who was born from an affair, has never met his father and the search for the manuscript entwines with his own emotional journey. The twist at the end is very fun and connects to the reason that the book is only available in print format!
15 Likes
I just read 事情を知らない転校生がグイグイくる。 1 | L22 since it saw it mentioned somewhere on the forum that it was free to read right now.
It was really cute! Some reviews mentioned that it was repetitive but honestly that’s not bad (just a few lines of text repeated at the beginning of each chapters, those mostly disappear after chapter 4 too).
I guess the gimmick remains the same (the titular 転校生 keeps misunderstanding things in the most insanely positive way, except when it serves comedic purposes to go the other way around) but I binged the whole volume and still found him adorable.
Since volumes 1-5 are free, I’ll probably read a bit more.
That’s a good change of pace compared to the horror book I was reading which inadvertently scared me to death yesterday (which, arguably, is what I am looking for in a horror book)
12 Likes
Updates from me!
I finished アーモンド | L35 last week.
And also finished 水たまりで息をする | L28 , which was great.
Very simple premise, of a husband who won’t wash, but built up to a very eerie vibe.
I also noticed おいしいご飯 is being published by penguin in English, so I’m glad 高瀬隼子 getting international recognition! (Junko Takase)
I’m going to start 六番目の小夜子 | L30?? next, I’ve managed to keep myself from reading the spoilers everyone’s been discussing in the book club. Looking forward to reading together with everyone, it seems like a pretty popular club.
13 Likes
I wonder how well it will translate… 
推し、燃ゆ was translated and I remember thinking ‘that’s a book that simply won’t translate’ because the writing style is a huge part of what makes it unique, but also the slang and Japanese pop culture references. I remember looking at the English reviews and being like, 'yeah, it lost its spirit in translation 
’
おいしいごはん doesn’t have the slang/cultural references, but it’s a very unique writing style and whether or not it’s conveyed is going to be heavily weighted on the talents of the translator
10 Likes
Yeah you’re right. I feel like in the original jumps around perspectives as it unfolds, which could definitely be done heav handledly.
I do think, if the translation is done well, it could be a hit.
I’d group コンビニ人間 in the same realm, and that was super popular.
8 Likes
I haven’t been reading too much lately, but I did just pick up 本好き28 again last night, and wow. Things are happening.
12 Likes
I started 逆転裁判１ recently. It’s interesting - I last tried this four years ago before I started my current rampup of reading (reading everyday, starting with manga and moving to novels etc) so in between the last time [four years ago] and now I’ve read… a lot.
It’s interesting how much easier it is now even though I would say I didn’t really pick up that much applicable vocab externally. I guess I’m just more use to the rhythms of conversation, the back and forth etc. I think Takumi’s writing style of each part of the sentence only being about the size of a text box helps as well.
14 Likes
I ended up bingeing all the free volumes. I’m definitely loving the series.
The main character is a bit of a dum dum, but he is such a cute bean, and literally the sun* 
*not literally the sun
Meanwhile, the last two volumes I read had an ad for the author’s new series, where the gimmick is that the main character is a bit of a dum dum, but she has a huge rack. That’s… err different 
I also finished the horror book I mentioned before. It was written has a real story (the main character is literally the author) which is interesting. The thing that scared me is that in the middle of the book, the author warns the reader that learning too much about “the thing” may bring it to your place. The author tried to obfuscate/change as many details as possible for your safety but if strange noises/phenomenons start happening, just stop reading the book for a while. Just as I was laughing about it the freaking relevant noise came from the hotel room above mine (the noise is supposed to come from the roof, but close enough I guess). I was like whoa haha what a coincidence good thing I’m not superstitious by the way have you seen the time good night!
10 Likes
I’m still reading and very much enjoying Butter, and also 六番目の小夜子 for the horror book club (my first ever book club!!) but I’m also reading a chapter of 伯爵カイン a day for nostalgia - this was another manga by Kaori Yuki that I adored as a tween and followed its biweekly Hana to Yume release religiously.
I’m not sure how many gamers are here but recently there was a bit of a furore that the new Assassin’s Creed game had taken a few creative liberties in its depiction of feudal Japan (I personally think it’s harmless abd people getting wound up are being a bit silly). I was reminded of that small scandal because reading this series set in “Victorian England” as a British lady means I’m constantly encountering and enjoying/laughing at some of the err… creative liberties taken with British history and culture.
14 Likes
Oh phew. I absolutely loved the anime but was hesitant to read it because of some of the reviews. I’ve been burned a few times on not loving the manga when the anime was great.
I should to read it… at some point… when I get caught up on other series which… is that ever going to actually happen 
4 Likes
Why catch up on other series, when you can just start a new one? 
6 Likes
I don’t know about the anime, but the manga tends to cut straight to a specific interaction between characters, while removing any of the more mundane stuff you would get from other manga I have read. That also means there’s only weak continuity between chapters. Looking at the reviews, I guess that’s what they found jarring about the book.
However, the published version adds more traditional chapters and development, especially from volume 3 (I think, I binged 2-5 in one sitting, so it’s a bit of a blur).
Anyway, you have 30 hours to get a quick look for free and see for yourself 
5 Likes
Which book is it (it’s possible you already mentioned and I missed it, sorry), and would you recommend it to someone who’s desperately looking for an actually scary horror book?
7 Likes
I just started playing the third game in Japanese! I have played the first trilogy so many times but this is my first Japanese play through. I love it so much 
4 Likes
Seconding this!
1 Like
