What are you reading today?

Japanese Reading
5339

It counts in my book! Thanks!

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5340

I finished 灰と幻想のグリムガル level.7 彼方の虹 | L31 yesterday. That volume was pretty interesting in terms of world building.

Hard agree on your first point. It actually single-handedly prevented me from giving 5* to this volume.
I disagree with your second point though. Haruhiro has gone through way more than can be expected of a normal human being without snapping. So if we are to believe that he is indeed “average”, showing signs of burning out are expected, and the way that he reverts to self-deprecation and self-doubt felt reasonable (I’m not sure I would go as far as realistic, but that’s mostly because I have no clue of what people would actually do in that kind of situation)
All that to say that it kinda had to be that way, and it’s an interesting contrast with parts that were less stressful for him (like in early volume 6)

I don’t know about that first one. It was more about シホル showing what she is trying to do rather than a true deep conversation. It is important plot wise, but I wouldn’t call it a “heart to heart”. Agreed on the second one though (although someone wasn’t fully open).

Yes. And the rest of the world building was also pretty nice too.

vol 8 (beginning)

I mean, that didn’t come as a surprise. Haruhiro even kinda calls him on it in volume 7. That being said, even if it is just a coping mechanism, it still sucks.

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5341

I agree with you actually, I just get tired of reading it. It’s more of how the author writes inner monologue in general. It always restates things & draws them out more than I care for. With ハルヒロ in particular, I got very burnt out of reading it, in the first 5 volumes - and never fully recovered. Thankfully he starts getting more character growth, and his inner monologue has gotten more enjoyable for me

I guess there’s probably a better descriptor for it, but it did involve them both opening up a bit more - which isn’t something I recall of シホル from previous novels. Also she did call him on his obvious crush on メリイ, plus shared her opinions on how he thinks of &:treats himself, and begging to value his life more. So it did get at least kinda personal

Agreed. Very level, but still creative and interesting. Honestly vol 7, and vol 8-9 are my favorites in terms of world building.

That’s fair, but still I was expecting his inner monologue to be waaaaaay more obnoxious than it was.

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5342

39% through うちの師匠はしっぽがない 1 | L33 - I must have not looked at the level before, but this is way harder than I was expecting - a lot of really antiquated JP. Story can still be followed without it, but I still don’t like skipping or needing this many lookups. So I’ll probly drop after this volume. And am considering dropping, until I gain some more knowledge of 落語 and some of the language they’re using… Throws a wrench in my plans to order a set, cuz idk how long till I’d get around to it

Otoh loved ラブ★コン 1 | L25 - so I placed an order for a set of physicals… though they won’t get here for a while (proxy). I’ll pick 舞妓さんちのまかないさん 1 | L25 back up, and still have plenty of New Game to get through

Also threw カードキャプターさくら | L20 into the order - so I guess I’ll finally be reading that, once it gets here. At least that will be really easy to breeze through! I forget to check for the old lady yuri, はなものがたり 1 | L30 unfortunately. It seems like that might be all Kansai? So maybe next month I’ll grab it.

34% through Grimgar 14, and my opinion is still “this is pretty decent/borderline interesting, but a little tedious, and I just wanna be done with this section of the story”. Still it’s been fine enough that I’ve decided not to just skip to the end, so far.

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5343

Heart to wall? :stuck_out_tongue: On both accounts you mention, he did pretty much dismiss what she said. Please take care of your life → I’ll think about it; Are you in love with メイリ → Nah.

I kinda wonder if I should set up a thread to talk about this series instead of continuously polluting this one :thinking:

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5344

I pushed myself through it (by reading the semi-relevant and interesting sections, and skipping over a bunch of irrelevant stuff*). I left a review. Tldr: excellent surrealist world-building, only a few good side characters (and some crappy ones), and half the party is kinda off (for reasons), and the plot is whatever. The ending was… A choice (very major spoiler: they are literally being drugged by someone they know (at least Haruhiro does), seemingly in the real world. And they’ve now had their memories reset and are back at the beginning of Grimgar, in Alterna, where they woke up in book 1). To say the least, I have no clue wtf to expect in volume 15.

Anyway, I’m actually going to take a break for a few days, before starting vol 14+, cuz I’m burnt out at this point. Guess I can catch up on book clubs now :slight_smile:

Edit: Urashima Tarō - Wikipedia got summarized in conversation - that was a fun bit. I’ve read a (Korean) webtoon that had a very similar subplot to that

Hmm, sure let’s go with that

I don’t mind moving discussion to there, if you wanna make one

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5345

Are volumes 14+ and 14++ part of the continuity, or just some random side stories?
If the latter, I may skip those books.

Alright, I’ll set up a thread when I have time™ (probably later today or tomorrow when I am done with volume 8)

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5346

They’re part of the continuity. I forgot what all of them are, besides that Yume & Shihoru both have a story of when they were doing their guild training. Vol 14++ starts off with a Ranta & Moguzo story. Vol 14+ seems to start off with Yume… which is already making me want to start it :joy: . And there’s 2 stories that focus on recent activities of certain characters who’ve been out of the spotlight lately, which will be relevant for vol 15

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5347

But literally everything you just said seems to imply they are not, though? My question was if volume 15 starts where volume 14 ended.
It’s fine if 14+ and 14++ are focusing on stuff that happened in between volumes 14 and 15, but you make it sound like they are

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5348

Sry I had an アホ moment :sweat_smile:. Afaik vol 15 starts where 14 ended. And there will be two stories of the side stories that take place at the same time as books 13-14, that relate to something in volume 15 (the one thing I know about it), but that could still be skipped. Idk I’ll report back once I’ve actually read them.

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5349

Well, I did it

I also finished グリムガル 8, but I’ll post over there, then.

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I did a quick inventory today and I’m at 97 books! I made it back below the three digits!
17 more books and I can even get to my goal except that won’t happen until I am done with グリムガル I guess.

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5351

Small heads up for those who might be interested: ブレイブ・ストーリー | L30?? is getting audiobook releases on Audible JP! First one’s already out, with volumes two and three each coming later this year.

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5352

Well, it is part of my 積読, so maybe it will help me get past the intro :sweat_smile:

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5353

Ongoing:

Book Clubs:

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5354

Here are a couple opinions on what I read/listened to in the last couple months.

Books

伝説の勇者の伝説 | L28 9-11

This is my favorite fantasy series atm.
I’ll binge the successor (大伝説の勇者の伝説 〈1〉行く先未定の大逃亡 | L30?? ) when I am on christmas vacation.

Pretty sure naruto stole half its content from here.

絶対に働きたくないダンジョンマスターが惰眠をむさぼるまで 1 | L30

A bit too chill, but had a couple clever ideas. I’ll continue it if I am ever in the mood for a dungeon master type story again.

『人斬り』少女、公爵令嬢の護衛になる 2

Book 1 was a decent action focused story for a casual read.
Book 2 slowed down too much for me to continue the series after. It tried to make me care about the characters but failed.

信者ゼロの女神サマと始める異世界攻略 1-2

This was unexpectedly good for something rated this easy. It felt like the author actually spent a couple seconds to think about how their characters should act in each situation.
I am likely to read this to completion, but I need a break from waifu overload atm.

Audiobooks

弱キャラ友崎くん 2

I just started this as immersion fodder when I was still getting used to audiobooks, but it turned out surprisingly okay. Even though I am a known hater of anything school, romance or slice of life.

クラスメイトが使い魔になりまして 1

It started out somewhat interesting, but became standard slop rather fast. Honestly forgot I listened to this until I checked my list.

乙女ゲームのヒロインで最強サバイバル | L32

Best thing I listened to as audiobook so far.
The audiobook for book 2 comes out later this month and I plan to listen to it immediately.

死に戻り、全てを救うために最強へと至る 1

This was terrible. I would not have finished it if it wasn’t short and easy.

蜘蛛ですが、なにか? 1-2

I am just about to finish book 2. It’s 8 hours long and I swear at last 1hour was just reading out status screens. Despite that its an alright naroukei story. Way better than the slime one at least.

I can elaborate on any of the above if someone wants some more information.

I just started 人間失格 today, because I need a change of pace. So far it’s an easy read.

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5355

Oh god, I can’t imagine listening to that… that must be painful (and repetitive).
Agreed that it’s better than the slime story, though.

By coincidence, I just came across that series and added it to my TBR. Good to know it has an audiobook!

That title sounded interesting… but the cover just made me go “nope” :sweat_smile:

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5356

I just read volumes 1-2 this month and really enjoyed them! It’s very much a light novel but kind of fresh. First volume starts a bit slow and requires a bit more suspension of disbelief until it gets going though mo.

I didn’t know it had an audiobook! May revisit in that form at some point if it’s that good. Is it one person reads all or a cast?

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5357

That’s literally why I added it. I was checking what you read to make you a recommendation :stuck_out_tongue:

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One person reads all

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