That is on my reading list for some reason, and I have no idea why. I suppose either of it involves a love triangle, or is related to Studio Ghibli? The cover gives such a different impression from the release poster on the Wikipedia page
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The release poster is in the same style as the illustrations inside the book (so far at least).
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エヘヘー, hope you enjoy it! It’s a breezy read
I think probably from me when I recommended it here! The updated edition from a few years ago is full of beautiful full color sketches of the characters matching the Ghibli movie
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Oh yeah, there was some teenage angst 荷物-brooding and then shock at ラフィール doing what was necessary… ラフィール is justifiably perplexed at his reaction. I like how she didn’t back down a nanometer. 「感謝するがよい」
I think what’s really eating at him is being and feeling so useless in the situation. Maybe he didn’t quite recognize the difference in their training until now? She has been in the military since age 13.
Certainly an opportunity for growth for him.
Fair warning that 紋章 is a pretty tight narrative, so cliffhangers abound. There’s a bigger break between 紋章Ⅲ and 戦旗I.
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I have this book, and it’ll likely be my “get a book from someone else’s bingo card” too 
So we might be starting a bit of a chain
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That’s what he says too. Immediately after the conversation, he reflects on his feelings and reached the conclusion it is due to a feeling of inferiority compared to someone younger. Not only is she a trained professional, she was also flying spaceships for fun since she was a kid (well, a smaller one, she is still a kid). Anyway, reflection is the basis for growth, indeed!
Considering the pace, I don’t expect much overall plot progress in the current series (especially considering the title of the next one, haha).
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Shonen jump is having a promotion on Booklive (and other places I assume), with a bunch of series volume 1 free to read.
So I read 正反対な君と僕 1 | L24 and I actually liked it! It’s a romance that starts with the main couple pretty much immediately dating and trying to figure out how this dating thing works. It’s full of teenage cringe and it was very nice for that.
Plus, the point of view follows the girl, not the guy. It’s my first time seeing that in a shonen romance. AND both characters are cute.
I also liked that there’s one side character upholding “incel adjacent” views getting proven wrong by pretty much everyone else (and he even starts reconsidering his views).
I’m definitely not in the age range of the target audience (and there’s only so much cringe I can endure), so I won’t be reading it further, but I did appreciate it.
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I’ve been reading サイレント・ウィッチ 沈黙の魔女の隠しごと | L31 with the WaniKani book club, which has been surprisingly enjoyable. I’m still a chapter behind the club, but about a third done at this point. If it doesn’t completely drop the ball, I’ll almost certainly continue reading (though might wait for a sale to buy more volumes). With how much the LN space is dominated by isekai, it’s nice to just get a straight fantasy series. (And yes, it’s still a power fantasy of sorts, but I’m fine with that when the main character isn’t a creepy pervert guy.)
Also started キラキラとギラギラ 2 | L21. Volume 2 has been a bit of a drag since so much focus is on a new character. Not bad by any means, but not as fun as volume 1 so far.
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I’ve been listening to the audiobook for a sequel to 禁じられた遊び, 禁じられた遊び ふたたび | L28 which is the fourth in the series and I’m belated realizing may actually be a true series as カケラ女 (title of 2nd book) keeps coming up, but oh well. It’s cheesy horror and I doubt it’s spoiling much I care deeply about. The main spoilers I’ve noticed so far have been for the ending of the first book.
Sadly it’s machine voiced, but on the plus side it’s audiobook.jp’s 聴き放題 so I’m not paying for it. It’s also, quality wise, not terrible, but the complete lack of emotion for dialogue is a bit weird/unnatural.
I’m about 40% done and it’s just as cheesy as the first book. I’ll probably go ahead and burn through the other two books when I finish this because it’s great for low focus listening.
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Wait, that’s a thing? That doesn’t seem like a good idea in Japanese (even less than in other languages). Edit: there’s also an audiobook on audible, with the tag “only from audible”, so I wonder if it’s a way to avoid copyright issues?
In other news, turns out the first volume is already in my wishlist and even reading the blurb, it doesn’t ring any bell. So there’s that.
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Ewww. People really are trying to ruin everything with poor use of AI.
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If you’re curious what it sounds like it’s the same robot for all of them: 禁じられた遊び ふたたび | 日本最大級のオーディオブック配信サービス audiobook.jp
It sounds humanlike but the narrator is “Voicepeak女性2” and like I mentioned, is oddly flat.
I haven’t noticed any issues with misread words yet or anything like that, but I’m also not paying deep attention to it (I listen while doing chores or exercising).
I’m not a fan of AI voices at all, and like I said, I wouldn’t pay for this, but I have 聞き放題 and it’s included
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I checked the voice samples on voicepeak VOICEPEAK 商用可能 6ナレーターセット｜製品情報｜AHS(AH-Software) and she sounds fine-ish. I guess I like 女性3 better, but whatever. 男性3 is my favorite, and they do have a few books read by “him”. Would not pay for it either though.
On a side note, 女の子 is making my ears bleed.
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Wow, those samples (with one noteable exception 
) are good. I don’t think I would’ve identified any of them as TTS.
Same for the audiobook. My first guess would’ve been a human reader who isn’t very good with putting emotion into the dialogues. It’s a pleasent voice, but with the dialogues like that it wouldn’t be engaging enough for me.
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I actually finished it yesterday.
I’m trying to read 海がきこえる | L27, but the story is too slow to keep me focused, especially when I could just read 星界の紋章 instead.
Technically, it finished on a cliffhanger again, but it’s quite clear where the story is going now (and where the third volume will finish). It’s still a fun read, though. I like the banter between the detective and the “liberation” army captain, although that’s a bit retroactive, as the beginning of volume 3 changed positively my opinion of said captain before I wrote this :p.
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Finished 乙女の港 | L34 - enjoyed it, and proud to have it under my belt
Finished 百合オタに百合はご法度です!? | L23 finished ch 1 - and for the most part I really enjoyed it - particularly the meta aspect, and the MC having to confront the differences between her fantasies and reality. I was dissatisfied with the ending bc it follows on of my least favorite patterns: confession, time skip to graduation with small preview of life after, The End. Overall though, I’d recommend to anyone who enjoys yuri or Class S, and is up for seeing them deconstructed a bit.
Picked up 花物語 上 | L39 again to read 2 of the short stories (ダーリヤ and コスモス). ダーリヤ is on the easier side of the book so far, and I was able to get a PDF, so I made a jpdb deck from it
Started:
Vampires + sister system. 3rd time starting (is the charm?). Definitely interested to see where it goes. Update: finished & left a review - off to a good start, with some interesting drama
- 明日もまた勇者のとなり 1 | L24?? - finished ch 1. Seems like it will be enjoyable
- 徒然日和 | L20 (finished 1/3) - nice rereading so far
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I’m already in the middle of too much stuff, but this is making me want to start it just on principle (and I was supposed to do that anyway)
Yeah, that’s basically the telltale sign
I agree that one sounded pretty good. But also I’m not sure I 15-30s clip is a meaningful sample
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I agree with 男性2 and 3 being my top (yes, I have a voice type). I’d probably consider buying one of them if I could use it for my phone tts (that’s where I started using it in the Kindle app to read to me).
I will literally never wade through the website to see if buying a voice for Android system is an option, but I’d someone happens to find that information I’d be grateful 
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対応OSはWindows、macOS、Linuxだけです。Android、iOSには対応していません。
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(Bummer.) Thank you 
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