Nice!
If you want the feeling of reading with someone, join us over in our unscheduled volume 2 reading club over in the WK forums:
Talking about the content is a lot of fun!
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!!
Yes thank you! 
I’m going to check that after every chapter now.
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I’m glad everyone is enjoying Silent Witch! I also find it easier / less taxing to read than other books and really like Monika and the supporting cast. I’m about 70% through volume 5 right now, and unless something changes I’ll probably just read straight through volume 9 to finish the original web novel’s story.
(I did end up skipping the volume 4 extra novel and while I’m sure it’s fine, it was better for me to skip it to keep up my motivation to read.)
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If only I wasn’t in the middle of multiple novels already 
(well I need to read vol 1, but still)
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And if you want to, post your own impressions too. 
(Questions are also welcome.)
Hey, if you’re already in the middle of multiple, what’s one more for the pile! 
(There’s also a book club for volume 1.)
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I remember starting that with the WK club a year ago and it was way too much. I bet I could read it without too many tears now.. thanks for the reminder.. I should get that on my reading shortlist for this year..
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Another self help book yay
My new game plan is to just do what I mastered in English. Read tons of self help, implement nothing, and then read even more 
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That is very useful information, thank you~
I’m moving Silent Witch up in the wishlist
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I just realized that I misread the schedule and that they are posted every two weeks. So I still have to wait until next week nuuuuuuuh
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Finished:
きたない君がいちばんかわいい vol5: it got more interesting as it went on. I don’t regret reading it but I can’t really say I understand the hype around it in certain circles.
変な家 vol 4: reread for me. Reading it with friends and it’s been fun. This vol has the hardest chapter in the series but it went better than I expected.
狼の皮をかぶった羊姫 vol 1: very generic and dull. I like kemonomimi characteristics so I was a bit excited for it but it’s just fluff. Which is fine, just not for me. Dropped
山田と加瀬さん。vol 2: this volume I ended up kind of disliking it. I thought the drama was really contrived. Something I’ve seen the series criticized for before, but never felt myself. I will still read on but first time I felt dissapointed in a volume of this series.
Currently Reading:
リミット vol 2: Still enjoying this one. This one requires a bit more brain engagement than some other stuff, and I’ve been feeling really sick so it’s been slow going.
ひぐらしのなく頃に 宵越し編 vol 1: one of my physical manga. Like the above requires a bit more brain engagement and I’ve not been feeling up for it. I really like the art in this one.
私に天使が舞い降りた! vol 11: this is a bit of a controversial/creepy one but it’s been weirdly enough a comfort series for me and when I am feeling sick and have a hard time concentrating its a godsend of providing me entertaining and simple japanese, even if it sometimes comes with the caveat of it randomly remembering it’s creepy premise. Mostly though, it’s just slice of life with fun characters and a sense of humor that hits for me. I’m already sad that it will end in a few volumes.
明るい記憶喪失 vol 1: it’s okay, but feels like premise has worn thin even halfway through it. Idk if I want to read 6 volumes of this. I’ll probably finish the first volume though. Picked this up to possibly replace 私に天使が舞い降りた as my simple comedy when that one is over, but so far not super into it (well I’ll still have yotsubato which fills the same niche for me but that one is releasing super slowly so I don’t want to run out 
)
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I haven’t read it (I know it’s not for me), but I think the fetish-y aspects probably have a lot to do with that
Curious if this still holds true over the next few volumes (makes me a lil nervous for eventual reread)
Hope you feel better soon
That one was always one of my “I don’t read this currently running YH series” ones (it ended last year). It did look very cute and comforting, if I didn’t know the premise. I didn’t realize it’s a 4-koma tho. That almost makes me curious, since YH rarely does those. Out of curiosity do you feel this review of the anime is also representative of the manga (when it remembers its premise), or did the reviewer/anime play those elements up more?
I should probably read that someday… There’s a “learn manga, in Japanese” channel that has a Yotsuba playlist that got me a lil interested, but mostly I forget it exists
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I just hear people talk it up as a great psychological series and I just felt like it was too shallow for that. Reminds me of the reaction to Happy Sugar Life where I heard the same. I liked that one more because I think there just was more technical skill on display on the manga, and I do think earlier chapter had more of a strong psychological element but then got really stupid.
Thank you!
Generally the anime and manga are pretty similiar (although the 2nd half of the anime is original it doesn’t veer off tonally from the manga, besides the very last ep which I disliked). Honestly I find it hard to talk about this aspect of the series, I don’t agree with every point the review makes but I wouldn’t blame anyone for being too uncomfortable to read it. What makes it bearable to me is that
- there is no sexual fanservice at all.
- the outfits she puts them in in themselves are generally fine? I genuinely don’t remember anything that shows a lot of skin, or shown in a sexual way.
- the cosplay element is increasingly less relevant as the series goes on. In many chapters miyako isn’t even in, and when she is the humor is derived more of her social anxiety.
For comparison, I’m a huge fan of higurashi which unfortunately has a lot of lolicon fanservice, but is generally much more “acceptable” to like because it has more of a plot going on. Wataten has no actual sexual fanservice with the young characters, but the premise is very hard to swallow.
Again, I wouldn’t necessarily rec it, it definitely still makes me uncomfortable at times. Frankly if it wasn’t recd to me by someone I trust very much I wouldn’t have touched this series at all. But when I did I ended up enjoying the comedy and characters way more than I thought. I can’t really gurantee anyone else will like the good in it enough to balance the bad when it’s something as subjective as comedy 
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Happy and late new year everyone!
Might as well share what I’m up to here, try to have some self-accountability if I fail.
I restarted 治癒魔法の間違った使い方 ~戦場を駆ける回復要員~ 1 | L30?? now trying to use a new method to go through it, using another SRS. Hopefully after suffering through the first book, the next books will be easier.
I’m also going to try an android e-ink tablet, instead of an e-book, in hopes it will be more flexible than just an e-book or a full fledged laptop.
Since my backlog of what I want to read is so immense, and lately I lack so little time where I’m able to sit and concentrate, I have considered reading series partially in English for those that are available, as a means to catch-up, then switch once I arrive to the non-published English part to Japanese. Anyone has experience trying that? I’m assuming it would be a bit of a difficulty spike/cliff. One series I’m considering doing that is: 一瞬で治療していたのに役立たずと追放された天才治癒師、闇ヒーラーとして楽しく生きる | L30??
Manga, I recently went through the latest volumes of
邪神ちゃんドロップキック | L21 and ゆるキャン△ | L25
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I’ve done this before, and yeah, the difficulty of switching my brain from English to Japanese was the biggest issue. Some series aren’t too bad, and others I take the English for granted, not realizing how technical some of the vocab ends up being.
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Good to know
That’s on my “I hear this is f’d up, maybe I should read it” list as well, but also on my “maybe I don’t need to read this” list lol. That’s disappointing to hear about the psychological elements declining as the manga goes on tho.
Makes sense. I did read other reviews of the manga and anime that seemed more balanced. And on the same token, I get why someone would read it
That’s good at least
First time I’ve heard that about Higurashi. Is it the manga specifically or the VN too? I feel like VN audiences are much less fussed about this sorta thing in general. 知らんけど
Thus is something I find interesting to think about in general - why are certain things are more “acceptable” (to others or myself) vs others? I suspect part of it is that fan service is easier to push past/compartmentalize/write off, since it’s an occasional interruption that’s only there for a subset of the audience.
Fate/Kaleid liner プリズマ☆イリヤ is my series like that. There’s a lot of excellent story writing, character development, and (deranged) humor… But then a not irrelevant amount of lolicon fanservice, depending on the volume. And I get uncomfortable talking about it / am not about to rec it to anyone, due to that (and the incest/bro-con stuff weirds a lot of ppl out). But in the first place, it’s supposed to be deranged and off-the-rails - which it sounds like Wataten mostly is not.
Noted. This discussion is making me think maybe I should try Wataten now just to have an informed opinion. Otoh my Now Reading pile is making me think otherwise 
I guess I could read a chapter or two from the 2025 magazines next time I need something easy to read 
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I’ve been reading 中動態の世界:意志と責任の考古学 (新潮文庫 こ 73-2) | L30?? , which is more “philosophy for a popular audience” by the author of 暇と退屈の倫理学 | L40 which I read last year.
This one is about the idea that our conceptions of will and responsibility are warped by our language dividing everything into active or passive verbs – either you choose to actively do something, or else it is done to you. So far it’s had a lot of background on the “middle voice” in ancient Greek, which the author is working up towards presenting as part of an alternative perspective on the active/passive split.
(I would like him to say something about active/passive in Japanese, which was very much influenced by western grammar in the Meiji era and rather different prior to that – the table of contents suggests there may be a bit of that later, but it feels a little odd that all the author’s discussion is focused on Indo-European languages, given what he’s writing in. But I suppose it is a popularization of ideas in the western philosophical tradition.)
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It’s in every version of the story to varying degrees. The main story adaptation of the anime has the least (because they have to condense stuff) but it still has the adaptations of some fanservice only arcs. I would say the vn has the most simply because it’s the longest but in the console versions it’s toned down (though the censors also remove actually worthwhile stuff..)
Anyway,
I finished 明るい記憶喪失 and went from “ok, but not worth to read 6 volumes” to actively disliking it. The main characters only moods are hyper and horny and it got really tiring. I get it’s a comedy manga but the way no one is even a little bit concerned about the amnesia is hard to take, as is her constantly outing herself and her girlfriend to random colleagues and strangers. The japanese was simple enough, but felt exhausting in a whole other way.
If I can’t find any light comedy to replace wataten I might try ジャヒー様 since I loved the anime of it. However, I think that too will end soon.
also finished リミット 2 and enjoyed it a lot.
I’ve also been reading/listening 安達としまむら light novel 2nd volume. I am listening to audiobook only so a lot goes over my head and sometimes I lose track of what’s going on, especially when I listen to before bed. I think having watched the anime keeps me afloat mostly. I rewind it a lot. I’m about 1/3 of the way through currently.
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I finished book three of シャンピニオンの魔女 3 | L24 and spoilers
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I recently finished ツミデミック | L32
I found it last month in my 積読 pile and can’t say I really remember buying it.
It’s a collection of short stories and, I have to say, the fourth one almost made me stop. The first 3
ended up having bummer endings (to various degrees) and the fourth one really felt like it was going to be a train wreck. The main character was in a bad situation but had a chance to fix everything, so, based on the previous ones, I kept expecting the other shoe to drop, with him f*cking everything up at the last minute…
And then he didn’t? The story did get a good ending!
So then I was kinda on edge for the rest of the book (well, there are only two more stories past that point, but still). So I ended up reading ~70 pages in a week (including 20 pages I had previously read in December but didn’t really remember), 30 pages in ~3 (!) weeks, and then 170 pages in 2 days. Extremely balanced pace 
I have to admit, about a third of the book in I thought it must be one I grabbed after reading a @bungakushoujo review, there’s no world in which it isn’t a @bungakushoujo book. But for bingo purposes (“I forgot why I bought this book”) I refrained to check. And, sure enough, I added it almost exactly on the same day as the review.
Ah, I also finally read 学園アリス 1 | L29 (same author as シャンピニオンの魔女) thanks to it being free to read on Booklive right now. I am currently on volume 4 (5 being the last free volume) and I still vaguely remember everything that has happened so far (although I either misremembered some details or they got changed in the anime). Sadly, while the plot drove me forward and made me forgive the main character’s childishness (to be fair, she is a child), it’s harder to ignore in the current situation.
Edit: after all those years, I can finally realize that the girl who’s ability is to make other girls attracted to her is called 百合.
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That story made me so stressed out! I can still remember reading it. I was so relieved by the ending I teared up due to the release of stress. It was really unexpected based on the ending of the first stories!!
Indeed. Perfect mix of crazy people and messy human drama!
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