What are you reading today?

Japanese Reading
3632

So, yesterday, as I was idly scrolling on Booklive (as usual) I came across the fact that 妖狐×僕SS いぬぼくシークレットサービス 1 | L20?? was free to read until today.

I have a bit of history with that manga. Waaaaaay back in the days, about 6 months after moving to Japan, when I was getting more confident about reading manga in Japanese, I decided to just start reading random stuff. Went to the Animate in Akihabara and saw this manga on the new releases counter.
I thought to myself “oh nice looking dude and that’s some slu 尊い thighs” and just bought it. (NB: now that I am both older and more familiar with manga, I would probably steer clear of that kind of design since she obviously looks ~15 [and, it turns out, is]) The manga then kicked my ass and I eventually gave up and sold it to Bookoff (one year later or so?).
When I saw it free to read for ~24h, I just decided it was time to settle that debt(?).

Well, it was… okay, I guess? On the one hand, that manga does provide the “equal opportunities fan service” I was talking about before and has a cast with multiple LGBT characters. On the other hand, 15 yo, plus the LGBT representation feels kinda bad (e.g. the lesbian is constantly sexually harassing the other girls and getting nose bleeds, there’s a scene where she is reading a magazine with naked ladies while complaining that two male characters in the room doing BL-related stuff is “キモい”, speaking of which, the guy who’s into (at least one) other guy(s) isn’t great either, the trans character is made to look clearly masculine, but with a faceful of makeup, …)
I don’t know how it goes later in the series (nor do I plan to find out), but I’m kinda unhappy about that. (To be fair, it was published more than a decade ago… but still, that’s not that old)

The plot starts reaaaaally slow. There are hints that it will become something more later, but so far it’s just a weird slice of life.

Edit: I just realized that I could technically count it as my “oldest bought” for bingo purposes :thinking:

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3633

Very 尊い :pinched_fingers:t2:

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3634

both started and finished 100年の経 1 | L26??

I ended up finishing fast since I was really caught up with the 試し読み so went ahead, bought and finished the entire thing, but unfortunately will not continue

up until the end of the volume that kind of indicates where the series goes I thought of this as in interesting input into the future of “creation in art subjects and the AI question” with actual addressing into “how people imagine future with AI compared to what we actually do with AI” potential but then it kinda turned “they will rebel against us and there’s no running away from it” vibe towards the end

if someone else reads it and tells me the rest is worth it I might continue, but for now I will be disappointed with something that could have been interesting and turned very typical in the end :smiling_face_with_tear:

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3635

Considering just b/c it’s an easy 4-koma (I just finished the anime). Would start from ch 26 (in book 3)

Finally reading the manga, since it keeps coming up. Over halfway through vol 1, and it’s a pretty solid adaptation so far. I feel like the LN felt a bit more subtle, and there was a clearer switch between PoV characters. Anyway, we’ll see. The hardest part is the food vocab :sweat_smile:

Has been on my list for a while, and it apparently just got a physical release. So if I like it, I’ll probly put it in my order this month.

Book club, might drop due to vocab level

In the meantime, I’ve made no textbook progress :sweat_smile: I switched my lesson book from 裏世界ピクニック 1 | L33 to マリア様がみてる 1 | L29 and that’s been a huge relief. Much more productive use of time, and it’s helping me catch stuff I missed here and there. Someday I’ll be able to read L33 comfortably… but today is not that day lol

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3636

I read the preview for 三角形の壊し方 but didn’t buy it because I got worried about age gap ick. Looking forward to your review to see if that’s a problem or not.

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3637

I haven’t read much of the book myself, but from what I have read, the shrine vocab should drop down to manageable levels if that’s a big issue for you.

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3638

I’m not fully caught up, but it does feel easier than ホームズ did and the first bit will be the hardest. So long way of saying I agree. :joy:

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3639

After something like 3 weeks, I finally finished it! I mean, it’s not like I was reading it continuously, but it was still a grind :sweat_smile:
The plot is that a silent protagonist (we are only “hearing” the answer from the person he is talking to) is investigating… something… related to an 花魁 named 葛城 (かつらぎ). Since the main character doesn’t say anything and the people he is interviewing are refusing to talk, it’s a long grind until we get any info beyond the fact that it was a big deal™. Still, the main character uses some interesting social engineering to get leads and finally uncover the truth.
I have to say that nothing happens for most of the book, then the last ~10% hit, and boi do they hit.
Between the difficulty of the book and how long you have to read to get to the good part, it feels a bit like too little, too late, though. 4* for you instead of 5.
However, due to the nature of the book, we get to see a variety of people working in the red-light district, in a way that felt pretty informative. I’m glad I read stuff about the period (e.g. 「江戸」を楽しむ | L41) as going in without any knowledge would be a really rough experience :sweat_smile:
So, overall, I didn’t enjoy reading this book, but I’m glad I did, if that makes sense.

Edit: after grading it, it got to level 46, pretty much as expected :sweat_smile:

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3640

I’ve been getting back into Japanese practice lately, and I went on a binge of 河崎芽衣’s manga; I’d noticed a sequel came out for one of her works I’d read, and some of her others looked interesting:

The protagonist of the first volume (a trans man) has become a teacher and helps students and co-workers with LGBTQ-related issues. It is very pointedly educational, but it helped that it circles back around to his feelings about his own future as well in the last chapter.

Biographical work (looks like it was adapted from a book) about a child with complex healthcare needs through her mother’s eyes. The first part is about her hard start in life, and the second, as the title says, is about her experience with school. I have read a lot about parents trying to get their disabled kids appropriate schooling in my country, and I was still shocked at the solution this family was offered. It made me wonder what the current situation for kids like this is in Japan.

Three biographical stories of mothers who lost their children young. This was definitely the most affecting of her work for me, and I cried at all three of the stories.

And a trio of three-chapter Educational Manga on Social Issues:

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3641

I just read the first 2 chapters, and can definitely see why you’re worried… I’ll let you know

That was definitely a large part of it, so good to know.

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3642

I saw in your review for vol 1 of 見えない子どもたち~LGBTと向き合う親子~ | L22 you mentioned 僕が私になるために. I just added it to Natively, in case you’d like to edit it into your review: 僕が私になるために | L24??

That is quite to plot summary! Added it to my eventually list

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3643

I just finished もしもの世界ルーレット 友だち作り禁止!? “一人ぼっち”は怖くない! 他 | L22! I was really looking forward to it, since I quite liked the previous book, but sadly the stories were a fair bit less interesting this time. But on the plus side it was really easy to read, which is nice. (And I will definitely read the next book if there will be one - although I hope it’ll be more like book #1 again.)

Now that I’m done I’m looking forward to picking up 黄泉のツガイ 8巻 | L25, and to continuing イハナシの魔女 that I just suddenly stopped reading for no good reason at all.

Btw, @Megumin, you mention in your review:

I didn’t understand the relation of the second part of the epilogue with the rest of the work. It might be a weird set-up for the next volume, or a introduction to other book from the same author?

The author introduces it as おまけのお話, so I think it’s just a bonus short story. Set in the book’s universe, probably non-canon, along the lines of “Maybe there’s even a world like this in the world roulette?”

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3644

I haven’t gotten to this point in the story yet, but I spoiled myself by skimming through later chapters, and yes you absolutely should be worried about it.

It doesn’t seem like it’s portrayed at all positively… and at least certain actions like the adult kissing the middle schooler and pushing her down on the bed, because she didn’t want to hear something uncomfortable have negative consequences, in this case she breaks up with the adult and stays at the other character’s house (char 3 likes the chat who has just been broken up with) probably indefinitely?

I’m torn… I’ve been in the mood to read things that are kinda messed up lately, and some of the psychological and supernatural parts seem interesting… But also I’m extremely uncomfortable reading something like this. Update: I caught up to the latest chapter. There’s good and bad things about the series, but seriously wth is wrong with the two adult leads sigh. Anyway, I’m definitely not buying the physical for this.

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3645

Shame to hear that my concern was warranted. Having negative consequences is obviously better than treating it as true romance or playing it off for laughs, but I still wouldn’t want to read something like this. Thanks for confirming.

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3646

As a reward to myself, I decided to read TRPGプレイヤーが異世界で最強ビルドを目指す 10 ~ヘンダーソン氏の福音を~ | L40 and I’m so glad I did.
I think the highlight for me was that the “girl of the week” this time… is a guy. And the author does commit. We don’t just get a “yeah he is attractive or something” like a certain slime related LN series, we get descriptions of his hair, skin, eyes (and eyelashes), mouth, arms, hands, abs, thighs, and more, and the author does make him sound hot.

No plot spoiler, but relationships spoilers

There’s a long public bath scene where the main character and him are being… really close, let’s say. We get that scene from the point of view of a third character who wonders what are those two are for each other. We also get him (the third character) to briefly question his own sexuality because of how hot the love interest is (but conclude that he is missing some critical “凸凹”).
I am impressed that the author went that far in a 男性向け LN, especially since that character does sound like a serious contender to be in a relationship with the main character, who has been previously established as potentially bisexual. His isekai cheat is that he has characteristics, skills and XP points like a table-top RPG, and can spend points to unlock anything, including his own sexuality, even if would not make sense (e.g. read books to gain XP, and use it to get buff instead). He is minmaxing which is why he avoided spending points altogether (until the main love interest… forced his hand), but he has a bunch of XP right now…
Speaking of the main love interest (マルギット), she also takes ミカ (this time’s love interest) seriously and tries to scare him off (unsuccessfully) and then fight for the attention of the main character (I don’t like scenes like that in general, but this one was fun) getting to a draw (although ミカ considers it a loss, since the other two are getting home together).
That scene is the one depicted on the cover. I love how the illustrator made her look unhappy next to ミカ… and how the other love interest who came back this time is just a blur in the background (the other two love interest just crush her hopes and dreams in the story [indirectly in the case of ミカ, very directly in the case of マルギット]). I do feel bad for her, because she is literally the kind of character I play in TRPG (all brawn, no brain). It kinda made me feel like I lost :sweat_smile:

Anyway, plot? What do you mean plot? But okay, fine, there’s a little bit of plot. And I do mean little. The part above covers half the book, then plot for like 10%, then battles. Speaking of which, that’s again because I am contrasting it with the slime LN, but the battle scenes felt really good. You can have overpowered characters and still get interesting writing.
The plot itself wasn’t really a surprise (except in the details) since the “what-if” end of book stories in previous volumes already spoiled the over-arching story (which is also a form of bold writing, now that I think about it).

Overall, that was probably my favorite book in the series (for all the wrong reasons). In fact, if it wasn’t for the fact that the main love interest looks like she is 12 (and is in fact even younger in the earlier volumes), I would be recommending it… As it is, I still feel a bit weird about that (although much less now that she is in her twenties)

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3647

So I started reading 時限病棟 | L33 on the plane ride to Japan and got about 200-ish pages in before my brain wanted to shut off. I ended up not reading on the ride back for various reasons, but I started it again last night and suspect I’ll finish it within the week. It’s very well paced and I am greatly enjoying the character dynamics as well as spinning theories about ‘who dunnit’.

At first I was confused why this was listed as a sequel to 仮面病棟 because that book was very self contained, but after getting past the initial set up it’s clear how the two relate. I can’t explain how without spoiling anything, but when I’ll get to reviewing I’ll definitely note it. The ending of the first book is spoiled mutliple times in the sequel :sweat_smile:

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3648

Is anyone here a fan of QuinRose’s Xの国のアリス series? They’re a series of Japan-only otome games, with the X being a card suit (ハート、ダイヤ、クローバー, etc.). I ask because I know they inspired a fair bit of official spin-off manga and LNs, but didn’t realize just how many until I started adding them to Natively. :sweat_smile: (Final total still in the works; I’m adding another big batch today…) So I’m curious if anyone has the deets on what’s good and bad from all that.

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3649

I have a bunch of the light novels, but I never read them. Specifically, Alice in the Country of Hearts being the ones that come to mind. Other than the fact they seem pretty standard I dunno what to say because I only flipped through.

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3650

Thanks to the “相性” feature on bookmeter, I found someone with similar tastes, and found 転生先は盲目幼女でした ~前世の記憶と魔法を頼りに生き延びます~ | L30?? in their recent reads.
The setting is pretty interesting (the main character is reincarnated as a blind girl; the world seems interesting too) BUT, massive disappointment: the story is apparently over in two volumes.
Honestly, the first volume by itself could just be a standalone.
I feel like there’s a lot that could be done with the world building and characteristics of the characters, but that won’t happen in just 300 pages… :frowning:

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3651

I started reading the first volume of 毎月庭つき大家つき | L25 because it was 50% points back on Amazon. I like it enough that I bought more volumes on sale. It seems to be a complete series at five volumes which is nice.

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