It’s slightly larger than your average B6 manga, with a hardback cover and thicker paper than most LNs. Also way more illustrations than usual
5 Likes
I don’t think there are that many illustrations. Good to know about the other reasons though. (Not that I see those benefits on my kindle even with the higher price.)
3 Likes
I’m used to seeing like max 4-6 illustrations (not counting the beginning pages), this one has about 9, if I didn’t miss anything flipping through, plus 2 pages of illustrated character intros in the back.
Idk it was enough that it stood out to me when I picked the big, and saw the page edges. I’m kinda glad I got the physical since it’s so nice… But I’m going to end up reading it on Kindle anyway, just for ease of looking 
but at least I can see the printed pictures now
3 Likes
Maybe I’m just spoiled by 本好き always having a lot of artwork in each volume.
4 Likes
I just finished 恋した人は、妹の代わりに死んでくれと言った。―妹と結婚した片思い相手がなぜ今さら私のもとに?と思ったら―【電子書籍限定書き下ろしSS付き】 Celicaノベルス | L30?? I bought the whole series when it was heavily discounted a couple of months ago. That series was consistently in the top of the booklive 女性向け light novels last year, and even ranked second in the yearly ranking of bookmeter, so I thought I’d give it a shot (plus, it matches one of the bingo prompts)
The world building is pretty intriguing, but the story is sloooooooow. The author keeps saying the same thing (eg, the main character saying she is not good enough to be with the guy she love; okay, yeah, I got that the first 100 times you said so, can we move on). It is quite interesting though (as the title implies, the relationship with said guy is beyond repair, but she doesn’t die obviously, and after a 23 years time skip, she meets his son, who looks just like him… he is her nephew, though, that’s a bit of a nope in my book, but they are technically not blood relatives; also she lives in a wasteland corrupted by the magical equivalent of radioactivity)
There’s a little bit more to it, but it’s still frustrating that I can sum up the major plot points in a single sentence.
Hopefully things start moving faster in the next volume…
7 Likes
I finished the main part of 暇と退屈の倫理学 | L30?? (there’s an extra essay at the end that was added for the paperback edition that I still need to read). I’ve enjoyed reading this – it’s philosophy written for a popular audience by a philosophy professor, and the author explains the ideas he’s working through in a readable and comprehensible way. (There are extensive endnotes also, which he notes that you don’t need to read, and the (harder to read) quotes from the original authors are mostly relegated to the endnotes.)
The book is an examination of why we get bored and what we should do about it, working through what people like Pascal, Heidegger, and others have said about it, as well as some perspectives from anthropology and economics; the author then makes their own line of argument and conclusion from this. It fell into about the right difficulty level for non-fiction for where I am right now: not easy, but not a really slow crawl with a ton of dictionary lookups either. The author provides enough concrete examples and repetition that it’s not a pure sea of abstract concepts.
I read the conclusion last night while I had a nasty headache, which wasn’t very conducive to assimilating what the author wanted to say. I might reread that bit at some point.
Recommended, assuming “philosophy for a popular audience” is something you’d be interested in in the first place.
14 Likes
Finished 東方酔蝶華 ~ロータスイーター達の酔醒 1 | L25 and wrote a review. Tldr: it was fun enough, and easy to read, but nothing really wow about it
Next up: ふたごわずらい 1 | L24?? then サボりなら保健室でどうぞ?(1) | L24?? (which I expect to be very uncomfortable reading 笑). Novels: 花物語 上 | L39 (parts), お釈迦様もみてる2 学院のおもちゃ【マリア様がみてるカラー口絵つき】 | L29
6 Likes
Caught up to the latest chapter. I think it’s a pretty solid read, that’s fairly original, and has some interesting storytelling. While it does raise some ethical questions, it’s not hitting hard and deep the way say 鋼の錬金術師 1 | L29 does. Some suspension of disbelief issues, but not enough to interfere with enjoying, if you like the characters. Anyway I’m looking forward to keeping up with it, and to the anime.
Also finished:
- 恋の絶望行進曲 | L17 - 2nd yuri manga I ever gave a 1 star to. The story of “how to date someone who treats you like crap and still end up in a relationship with them 10 years later”. If it had ended at the penultimate chapter, when the MC finally broke up with the girl who was intentionally neglecting, cheating on, and lying to her, it would have actually been a solid read.
- ふたごわずらい | L18 - overall not bad, my only real disappointment was I thought it would be longer than it actually was (vol 3 is just two follow-up stories). Was tamer than I was expecting, but still has some good 煩い levels
- サボりなら保健室でどうぞ? | L18 - it’s fine. If you like the genre already, you’ll probably enjoy it. Otherwise it’s on the tamer side, so if you wanted to check out that genre, it’s probably a decent starting point. Not missing anything if you skip it tho.
5 Likes
I finished ムシウタ 01.夢みる蛍 | L29 - frustrating because I liked some aspects but it felt like the author was oblivious to just how terrible a person one of the main characters was. It’s fine if characters are bad people, but just sailing over the moral event horizon in their first chapter and have it go basically unacknowledged in his character arc is just weird and uncomfortable.
Starting アサギをよぶ声 新たな旅立ち | L26 - wanted something that I can read easily within a week as I’m going overseas for a bit after that. It’s been a long time since I read the first one (over 10 years … yeesh), but I remember liking it a lot.
8 Likes
I finished パラソルでパラシュート | L28 yesterday and really enjoyed it. It ended up being nothing like I thought it’d be based on the blurb, which indicates some things about a love triangle, but I’ll leave it at that. 
I don’t always love vibey slow burn books, but this one had fantastic characters that felt like living, breathing people. There were also so many descriptions of real places in Osaka, it felt like I could go there and actually find the characters! I didn’t want to leave their world once the book ended because the author wrote them all to be so charming and endearing. Going by some of the tropes people threw out on the favorite and least favorite books thread, I’d also say it contains “found family” and “romance is not the main focus”. 
After finishing that I started パッキパキ北京 集英社文芸単行本 | L32?? by 綿矢りさ. Her books are always a treat and this one is no exception. The summary is basically: The narrator is an ex-ギャル and ex-hostess and married to a much older man who was sent to live in Beijing for work by his company, so they’ve spent years living apart due to the pandemic. The pandemic finally gets a little better and he asks her to move to Beijing to be together with him again. After the short setup at the beginning, the book is all about her experience moving to China and adjusting to life there with her poorly trained terrier ペイペイ. 
I’m only halfway through but it’s really funny so far. The narrator is both happy-go-lucky and a little careless, and it’s fun to read about her point of view. She actually reminds me a less extreme version of the narrator in the first short story in 綿矢りさ other book 嫌いなら呼ぶなよ | L35.
I’m also learning many new things about China and it almost feels like I’m traveling in Beijing without actually being there! This is a good book if you want to take a trip but don’t have the time or money. 
13 Likes
And I now finished volume 2. It’s still interesting but, sadly, still slow. AND that volume had around 40% of bonus (read: boring) stories. It’s extra painful because the main story ends on a cliffhanger this time. I have to admit I skipped the ebook exclusive bonus story.
I also tried to read ギルドの受付嬢ですが、残業は嫌なのでボスをソロ討伐しようと思います | L30 yesterday, but, 10% in, I’m pretty underwhelmed.
9 Likes
Yes, I stopped the TV series after about three episodes
5 Likes
Looks like we attacked it from all angles and came to the same conclusion. It was the manga for me
5 Likes
Well I’m sad because that sounded like a fun premise. Ah well.
2 Likes
Sounds like an interesting narrator (tho I’m not sure the story sounds that interesting)
That’s pretty impressive
4 Likes
So I’ve got two newish books running, one being a physical book and one an audiobook.
The physical books is マッチング | L30?? and I’m around 20% done with it and not that into it to be honest. It will definitely go on the “don’t keep” pile when finished. It feels very generic horror, like the sorts of movies that are pumped out every summer, and I just don’t find myself that intrigued. It’s funny I say that when I liked スマホを落とした so much, but I feel like that leaned into being a cheesy thriller whereas this one is trying to take itself more seriously and missing the mark.
The audiobook is one off audiobook.jp’s 聞き放題, 冬休みの誘拐、夏休みの殺人 | L28?? which is by the same author as 天使の傷痕 | L33 which I loved, but this feels so different! I wouldn’t have at all guessed them to be the same author. For one, 天使の傷痕 has a fully adult cast and such delightful 60s vibes (published 1965). 冬休みの誘拐 stars ~16 year olds and apperantly was published in 2004. I’m also about 20% done with it, I expect it will take me maybe a week to finish as it’s fairly short and I like audiobooks for chores and such.
6 Likes
Started 穏やか貴族の休暇のすすめ。 | L32 today, and we’re off to a promising start. Interesting that the protagonist リゼル appears to have been isekai’d, but as far as I can tell it’s not a “normal” isekai from our world, but from some other. “Oh yeah, we have 魔術, but not this weird 魔法 stuff.” And maybe it was just the narrator narrating an appropriately flustered shop keeper, but it sure sounds like リゼル’s definitely-not-BL body count has already started. 
8 Likes
Exactly! And I loved how chill he was about the situation, too. But I hate that I technically can’t add it to my Fantasy that's not isekai | Japanese list by Naphthalene | Natively for that reason 
I love the narrator, but also リゼル is definitely getting all the boys (in a non-BL way, of course)
3 Likes
I’m definitely enjoying him just treating it like an unexpected vacation, rather than panicking about the logistics of the matter or whatnot. Though perhaps he’s a little too unruffled? I get the feeling リゼル’s quite the character anyway normally, and perhaps this is just as much a vacation for his original colleagues…
“What do you want to talk about?”
“I want to know your work history and your history with women.”
*ギル immediately gives him both details*
リゼル doesn’t even have to work that hard. 
It’s the technicalities that’ll getcha. :\ We need a genre name for pre-modern isekai and isekai that’s only isekai because the publisher told the author it’d sell more than a straight fantasy story, so the author grudgingly added in a few lines about “omg this not Japan” or whatever.
(Those would actually both be fun lists to make, come to think. )
5 Likes
Another on my BL to eventually read list
Those both sound excellent
5 Likes
