Both of these are above my true ability, but 星界の紋章 is indeed like 10 levels harder than 薬屋のひとりごと. I added multiple new words to JMdict that weren’t there based on 星界. Many more in both series that really don’t even warrant dictionary entries.
I guess it’s a different kind of difficult between creating a constructed language and trying to justify faster than light travel in a handwavy way vs archaic Chinese court terminology.
Should finish & rate these. I’m so looking forward to some parts of 星界の紋章３, just have to do a ton of work to get there…
I think we’ve touched on this topic before, but I’m not sure if it was localized in a particular thread or not. Does anyone have a good rule of thumb for converting character count into page count? Specifically A6 bunko size.
There are some tool to do the calculation.
I have used this one in the past, when I was trying to estimate page numbers for https://learnnatively.com/book/5e777e10f3/ when I was running the book club on WK. It has a lot of parameters, but the defaults are A6 bunko, so you are probably good to go. (Maybe set the 事務ページ数 to 0 if you care about number of pages, rather than trying to find the actual page where something is).
For light novels, illustrations will (USUALLY) be on a separate page, so you can add +1 per illustration.
Reading that section about the history of the development of the FTL drive was brutal, and the worst part was there was absolutely no payoff for all that slogging through it because it’s completely irrelevant to the story. Loved the 星界の紋章 anime but don’t think I’ll ever get around to reading the rest of the novels…
The good thing is, we can still get the books new, as well as used. Wikipedia says there are some follow-up series, though. Anyway, for the time being, I ordered the first three volumes i.e. the first series.
But isn’t there some remote library service? There might be some other library that has the books.
I just have to keep reading, I still don’t know how the story ends! The anime finished so early.
You’re right, the contrast between the fast-flowing dialogue between ジント & ラフィール and all the setting description couldn’t be more stark, lol.
The FTL drive talk is actually a part of why I’m in – classic space opera seems like a dead genre nowadays. It was all the rage in my youth, the young uns don’t even know what they’ve been missing!
That very first ラフィールと呼ぶが良い! in Japanese is a personal highlight of my Japanese reading journey.
I’ll read Cop Craft or any other book of your choice in exchange.
I started reading アンソーシャル ディスタンス (新潮文庫 か 54-5) | L34?? by 金原ひとみ the other day and wow, is it heavy. I’ve only read 蛇にピアス | L31 by her before, but アンソーシャルディスタンス certainly rivals it in terms of being a dark and depressing swamp of human despair. The first story was about an alcoholic woman taking care of her romantic partner who is suffering from debilitating mental illness and it wasn’t really a fun read (like, at all), but the writing was gorgeous and I read it all in one sitting. It reminded me of 蛇にピアス in that you really get caught up in what’s happening together with the characters as the reader, but then all you can do is just watch it happen. Anyways, I’m liking it! Looking forward to story #2, which is, according to the blurb, is about plastic surgery addiction. It is titled “Debugger” - just love that bit of black humor.
Just finished 気になってる人が男じゃなかった VOL.3 | L24. It was fine, though the series really hasn’t had the same spark since the first volume. The problem is mostly that it publishes so slowly and that there’s been virtually no progress between the two main characters so far.
I’ve heard this complaint (like every week or two) about it, so haven’t been in a rush to grab vol 3. Apparently it’s getting an anime. Really curious how that’s gonna go
Also it’s been so long there’s a decent chance I’d have to reread it now (not necessarily a bad thing)
It’s weird, because this complaint really does depend on the series. For example, with 雨夜の月 (you’ve read it, spoiler tag is for others) the progress has been somewhat similar (vague flirting, but nothing that concrete) but across many more volumes, and yet I’m fine with it. Well, fine with it if there’s some real development within another volume or two, but point stands.
It’s hard to say, b/c I haven’t read vol 3, but maybe the difference is Series B is a very linear story, with a clear progression, and a lot of depth, whereas きにおと seems a bit more episodic and meandering, and might not flow as fluidly due to the 4 pg chapters?
Personally I think the pacing & progression in Series B is excellent, but also think that most yuri moves too fast in general… not that I necessarily dislike it, but my ideal is really slow burns (ex 暁のヨナ | L28 where we finally get a kiss around chapter 104? 124?). I’m curious how to see if I feel the same frustration as you when I get around to volume 3 tho
Finished マリア様がみてる 33 ハローグッバイ | L29, which is apparently the end of the main (Yumi x Sachiko) arc. Next volume is side stories w/ maybe a horror theme(?), and idk about the ones after that.
Also finished おにいさまへ… 3 | L25 - as I suspected, a great part of the last 8 eps or so of the anime was indeed original content (not necessarily bad), but the endpoints were nearly identical. I appreciated that (unlike everyone else) it didn’t say anything about Nanako’s relationship prospects at the end, whereas the anime first made her lament the impossibility of the titular おにいさま (who she just learned was actually her step-brother) as a hypothetical future romantic partner, and then at the end implied she had a future male potential romantic partner. Overall I think both the anime and manga are incredible storytelling, but would definitely say the anime is the superior of the two
Now/Soon Reading:
Often considered the first yuri manga. It of course has a tragic ending, b/c that’s how yuri stories generally went in the 70s. The language looks on the easier side, and has full furigana. Seems less archaic than おにいさまへ for some reason (tho its visual storytelling is nowhere near as unique). Idk anything about the other 2 stories in the book. Like おにいさまへ it’s kind of sparse in what it shows, and you have to fill in the blanks, so to speak. I wonder if that’s generally true of shoujo from that era
Apparently this is one of the places the girl prince archetype in shoujo & yuri comes from, and I acquired a reprint of the 3 volume, 1958 edition. My teacher had actually mentioned it to me a while back, so it will be cool to tell her I’m reading it
I’ll bump it up on my list then. It seems the remaining マリみて volumes are all short story anthologies, so I’ll bump this to the top of my list
Do you know which edition you read? Mine is similar to this one, but with tinted colors, far less kanji, and in 3 volumes (it also seems to be missing the first 2 pages?). From the bit of the previews I skimmed, it seems like the same story but very different dialogue & paneling from other editions. Also waaaaaay less kanji
I read the version on Natively (it’s the one I added, the comment about versions is mine too)
Edit: I tried to remember the plot, but except for the thing I found annoying, I’m remembering surprisingly little. I remember the beginning. Then there’s a hot pirate at some point.
Something to look forward to So far the setup is “child born with female body, but male 心, due to a prankster angel. Announced to kingdom as being male (which will create problems since women can’t inherit the throne). Prankster angel also got incarnated to Earth as punishment”
I’m kinda wishing I’d gotten the modern version right now, cuz I’d really love those kanji. But I guess it will be good practice like this. That said I’m probably gonna add the other edition, given that they’re fairly different.
Anyways, I’m liking it! Looking forward to story 
So far the setup is “child born with female body, but male 心, due to a prankster angel. Announced to kingdom as being male (which will create problems since women can’t inherit the throne). Prankster angel also got incarnated to Earth as punishment”