Saw your review! It was interesting that you also gave score per chapter, so it gives me a better idea of what were your strong ones vs my ones.
I think the stories get better, although there’s still the odd one that is subpar from time to time. The second book was way better than the first one if I recall correctly and we go by the scores I gave them, but I think the increased interaction comes slower. For the character interaction, it really depends on what the item featured on the story is. Some require more, and some are more the experience of the user with the “weird” item.
The epilogues and sometimes also the free sample items which is the last one and also serves as an extension of the epilogue, keep going on the rest of the volumes, and I’d say it even becomes more predominant and larger, which is good for character development of the main characters.
For example, in the last volume I finished reading (世にも奇妙な商品カタログ 5 何かのエサ・高みの見物チケット他 | L24 ), without going into spoiler territory, there was the last chapter『のぞみちゃん』, which had plenty of interaction, and also set the full backstory of one of the main characters.
In any case, thanks for giving it a try! Since I’m so personally invested in the series, I’m happy new people are giving it a chance. I have the vol. 10 already pre-ordered although it’s going to be a couple months at least until I can reach that.
Ah, I forgot to say, but I’m ignoring the prayers from that difficulty judgement. I’m sure I could eventually piece together stuff like 来ずは来ば其を (こずはこばそを), but I don’t think it matters anyway. (EDIT: I just googled it and that one is a poem from the 万葉集, not a prayer; the whole poem is in there too, I just wrote the last part here. Knowing the meaning is nice for context.)
I any case, I finished the book (RDGレッドデータガール はじめてのお使い | L34) and it was really good! Actually, it’s more than just the difficulty that reminds me of 獣の奏者. You also have a main character in her early teens with some kind of special ability.
Some plot developments were a bit over the top (kinda 厨二 some would say, but they are actually 中三), but at least plot twists surprised me basically every time.
I kinda loved the one (SPOILER OBVIOUSLY) where the beginning of the story tells us she “like to practice dancing as a way to keep in shape”. Turns out the “sportswear” her grandpa gave her is a traditional miko garb (the one on the cover), and she is performing said sacred dance at the top of a mountain famous for its spiritual energy. You know. It’s good cardio. Also there’s no way it might end up doing anything bad.
I haven’t gotten to any of that yet, but I probably won’t scrutinize it much. Not that I never do (I spent over an hour analyzing some 占い in うらら迷路帖 because I was curious how the classical Japanese works), but generally I don’t. For example, I don’t look that closely at that stuff in 本好き either.
I passed the 50% mark yesterday, and I don’t think there have been any twists so far.
I do like the book overall. It’s a bit slow, but I think it’s partly because I’m reading slowly. People complained that かがみの孤城 was slow, but I read the 550 page book in about 3 weeks and thought the pacing was great. This means I’ve been reading Red Data Girl at about 1/4 that pace, which is why I think the feeling of slowness is partly my fault.
…I suddenly realized that maybe I should have put that behind a spoiler tag. I mean plot twist? What plot twist.
sorry; It’s not important, don’t think about it
I kept hearing people telling me it was slow, so I didn’t expect to do that and rented 獣の奏者 4 from the library before I even started reading volume 1. Whenever I am done with 獣の奏者 (or if I give up for now), I will indeed move on to volume 2.
Huh, I didn’t add that one already? I could have sworn that I did… Just requested it, thanks for being on the lookout!
I’m debating whether or not to get some early October reading in and run a 吸血鬼 recc poll or one between the two LNs Iv’e had my eye on. I should probably finish 西の魔女が死んだ first though.
Speaking of 西の魔女が死んだ | L27, are we sure this book is L27? I’m about 50% through, and it’s felt similar in difficulty to the L30-L31 books that I have read. I have to question if I’m the crazy one here because it’s already been graded by 7 people and 3 people say it’s easier than https://learnnatively.com/book/2f20d58780/. I feel like I’ve been questioning my perception of difficulty a lot lately.
i read マグナムリリィ 2 | L20?? today. wasn’t quite as fun as the first volume, and i also feel like i had to do more vocab lookups, but it was still a nice casual read
In case you’re curious, here is what lead to those ratings:
世にも奇妙な商品カタログ 1 SPOILERS
Instant shinigami 「インスタント死神」3/5: This was pretty fun, but the twist was more of a joke than anything else, which was disappointing. Not a “you messed up” or “you used the product in the wrong way”, just a “haha, the product is just unusable, got you!!”.
Tomodachi Kuji 「友達クジ」1/5: Neither product nor story nor protagonist nor twist felt interesting to me.
Shokei set「処刑セット」3/5: I didn’t really like our edgy protagonist and it wasn’t super exciting slowly discovering the machine (most of which was pretty inconsequential), but I really liked the twist!
Fuyu shika kaenai Ice-cream「冬しか買えないアイスクリーム」 4/5: Felt a bit slow at times, but I loved the fairy-tale like atmosphere - and then, in a complete reversal, that slightly horrific twist at the end. Really nice.
??? kingyo (Red)「？？金魚（赤）」 4/5: This one was just pretty nice from start to finish. Not quite Epilogue-level nice, and not quite as nice a twist as the previous story, but the protagonist and his hobby were interesting and the whole thing developed at a steady pace.
Kioku Shoukyou Button 「記憶消去ボタン 」3.5/5: Almost as good! I liked this protagonist even more than the last one, but it felt a bit slow to me, picking up speed towards the end. (And I agree with Nozome… I think she would’ve been a fun addition to our recurring character cast.)
Epilogue 「エピローグ 」5/5: Interesting characters talking to each other? In the last chapter, finally? And also revealing some answers? Aww yeah.
I read the 3 volumes of 早乙女選手、ひたかくす (series) | L22 that are available for free for a limited time on Booklive (and other places I assume).
I knew nothing about it, I just saw someone adding it on the global feed and thought it would be a sports manga (based on the titular character). Since the first few volumes were, I just went for it without thinking.
Turns out I was wrong. It’s a basic high school romance comedy and she is the love interest (she is an athlete, though). The main character is your typical average random dude.
It was meh, but, at least, the fan service you would expect in this kind of series involved showing abs and biceps for days, so it was better than average on that front.
I just started 池井戸潤 ミスト. It seems like a crime thriller/mystery, which I have read before, but the writing style is definitely more challenging compared to Keigo Higashino, who wrote the last thriller I read! I suspect this will be useful for picking up some more varied vocabulary but I’m already missing the lighter style of my last read 木曜日にはココアを | L29 (learnnatively.com). I don’t know if I will stick with this one as the subject also seems heavier and I don’t want to have to force myself through it…
I wouldn’t feel too bad about dropping this if you’re not feeling it. General internet reviews seem pretty average and none of the mystery book reviewers I follow seem to have reviewed it. The author has other books which seem quite popular (along with movie and TV show adaptations) but ミスト I’ve got nothing. Reading what excites or interests me always goes better than forcing myself through material I don’t care for, although I’ve done so out of stubbornness a few times
True, maybe I will alternate with a lighter book and see what progress I can make! The only Japanese book I’ve given up on so far was badly written and annoying, which this isn’t, so I may persist a bit more given it’s quite hard to source Japanese books where I live
i’m only two chapters in, but already the plot is veering in a very different direction from the anime. most of the characters remain, but some of them are quite different. and while there are very few men in the anime, it’s not so here. we’ve had a few dream scenes, while the anime leans more into magic? nobody’s been eaten by bears yet.
at this point i’m quite curious about where the story goes.
the very limited furigana definitely make it a more demanding read than most of my recent manga. on the other hand i’ve definitely gotten better at looking up kanji, and it’s good practice for me to recognize the ones i do know. i get the impression that the text uses more kanji i don’t know than other stuff i’ve read, but that is very subjective. my reading speed is definitely slower.
Good day, Native Lee, I hope you are all having another stupendous day actually reading instead of spending all day looking for more books to read (like me sometimes).
I finished 西の魔女が死んだ | L27. It was ok… Not my favorite. It feels a lot like https://learnnatively.com/book/2c1e37ec2e/ with the same type of “little girl learns about life from older woman/women” kind of plot. It’s about a little girl who won’t go to school so she goes to live with her grandmother in the countryside.
Sorry, it just didn’t really move me… I feel like it would have been better as a short story. In the end, I felt like I didn’t really get the mindset of any of the characters and most things felt quite inconsequential. Like, I didn’t get what the big deal over the Genji character was. The grandmother’s 魔女修行 advice seemed generally unhelpful and vague to me (except for “don’t stay up until 2 in the morning”). I don’t even know how to describe the personality of the main character, I don’t think I got her at all. In the end, the grandmother’s death felt quite light to me. The publisher describes it as 児童文学 so maybe I should have treated it more like a kid’s book? I typically don’t read descriptions so that’s my bad I guess.
If you like また、同じ夢を見ていた you will probably like it.
Maybe I just have shit taste. Time to get back to my funny 吸血鬼 kid’s books…
I love this post. The most efficient answer to the question “what you are reading today?”. It’s literally just what you’re reading today. No introduction needed.
I should probably finish 西の魔女が死んだ first though.
I’m about 50% through, and it’s felt similar in difficulty to the L30-L31 books that I have read. I have to question if I’m the crazy one here because it’s already been graded by 7 people and 3 people say it’s easier than 
