Currently playing a VN so I’m reading ツバサ on the side
4 Likes
As in the CLAMP work, or singing else?
2 Likes
Yes, the CLAMP manga
3 Likes
Read Vol 44 of ながされて藍蘭島 44 | L19
The series has gone so miscellaneous, it’s a bit of a chore to continue reading, I’m starting to loose hope that they will have an interesting twist like they had with the sister arc.
Also continuing catching up with ディーふらぐ! | L25, up to Vol 11.
3 Likes
Since my last update a month or so ago I finished the sixth volume of 安達としまむら during the readathon over on the wanikani forums, which was just as awesome as every volume so far - 安達としまむら has become something of a comfort series to me at this point.
I also finished ビバリウム Adoと私 which I loved, I being my favourite artist’s autobiography - this also happened to be the tenth book I read in Japanese which was super exciting.
I recently finished the first ストロベリー • パニック volume which I absolutely adored, I essentially laughed and cried the whole way through and enjoyed it immensely. It was peak yuri and all the characters were so lovable 
I’m currently about a quarter of the way through 神去なあなあ日常 which is the first novel I’ve attempted (as opposed to the light novels I’ve read so far) and I’ve already fallen in love with it. The story is very slow-paced and laid back which is the kind of book I love reading in English as well, and although I was worried it’d be too difficult to read it’s going fairly smoothly so far, despite being quite a challenge 
8 Likes
How do you feel it compares to the anime, if you’ve seen it?
2 Likes
I only watched the first few episodes after finishing the book so I can’t speak for very much of the anime - it was certainly beautiful in it’s own right but there were quite a lot of differences in the scenes in the anime versus the book. I personally much preferred the book since I thought it had a lot more depth but that’s just my personal preference
4 Likes
Cool. I had a very frustrated relationship with the anime, in part bc I watched in short succession of watching マリア様がみてる | L27 and おにいさまへ… S1 | L26 and not realizing that - despite very much pulling from/lampooning both of those - it is a very different kind of show. Otoh some of what I disliked about the show, I wouldn’t like in any context.
I’ve heard the book gets into the etoile selection much sooner - which is a definite plus, but even then I’m still not sure the novels are for me. Despite that, I’ve considered rewatching the anime and/or maybe reading the novel someday.
4 Likes
Interesting to hear opinions on strawberry panic novels because the only person I know who read it (in english) really dislikes the novels and was saying they’re barely coherent, maybe the translation is bad.
I recently watched the anime (I didn’t really love it) is what made you drop covered in there? I’m curious because I felt after the first eps that aspect was basically gone. So seeing it was bad enough again in the books to upset you surprised me, bc i remember you quite liked it (maybe i misremember though)
2 Likes
No, the anime covers through vol 3, which is where the web novel originally ended I guess?
Yeah that’s the thing, it pretty much was… But then in the 4th you get two dynamics I really don’t like
Stuff I dislike wrt relationship dynamics and consent in vol 4 (spoilers for various things)
So with the caveats that: 1. I read this a year and a half ago, 2. It’s possible I misunderstood something
Yufi & Anis: Following the events of Book 3, Yufi now needs an external supply of mana or w/e to get by (side note: I don’t understand why this seemingly isn’t the case with the ancient girl). It goes with the Fate model of “you can transfer magic energy via sex”. So basically that amounts to: Anisu needs to have sex with her constantly, regardless of how much she wants to, how exhausted she is, etc. There’s a lot of joking about this at Anis’ expense, and it’s pretty frustrating for her. At the end of the day she’s accepted it, but meh.
Reine & Ilia: the 16 yr old vampire girl - who has a ton of trauma bc everyone is affected by her vampire charm (innate property) to pursue romantic/lust after her; which caused huge political problems that were shown in the anime iirc. Anyway she can’t really go anywhere bc of this, and Anis takes her in, and she becomes a maid in Anis’ household, under the tutelage of the 27 yr old maid who’s served Anis since she was a kid. So far that’s really cool.
After a while they seem to be developing feelings, more particularly the 27 yr old is aggressively pursuing and coming onto this (interested but really uncomfortable and unsteady from trauma) girl repeatedly. The girl just wants to do her job and have some damn stability finally, and figure her feelings out later. At the end of the book there’s a scene where she’s still doing this, and trying to force the 16 yr old to have a talk about their relationship, to admit to being interested, etc, and is chasing her around. She finally chases her into a bedroom, where the 16 yr old buries herself under the sheets, and has repeatedly said she’s not ready to have that conversation yet.
So Anis walks in on this initially concerned, talks to Ilia for a bit and then just shrugs it off and keeps going with a (paraphrase) “yeah everything is perfectly fine” - which seemed really out of character for her (even if she herself was bad with Yufi’s boundaries earlier on). And like it’s played off like it’s supposed to be some cute thing - which is the thing that pisses me off about it. I don’t mind stories with shitty consent, but I do mind an otherwise serious story trying to sugarcoat/whitewash it… As opposed to something like 女同士とかありえないでしょと言い張る女の子を、百日間で徹底的に落とす百合のお話 | L21 - where the whole gimmick is that it’s dubious consent.
I almost never seen anyone talking about either of those things… And like maybe they get better as the story goes on, but meh.
I was really enjoying for the first 3 volumes, and even the rest of vol 4. So like I still might pick up book 5 eventually… It just stalled me back then
5 Likes
That’s interesting to hear - I’ve never read any English versions of Japanese books so I don’t know what translations are generally like, but I’m assuming it’s common for some things to get lost in translation?
I wouldn’t say the novels are incoherent but the way the books are written means the story jumps around from people’s perspectives and inner monologue quite a bit, sometimes without making it very obvious who’s thoughts you’re reading. It’s something I got used to as the story went on and didn’t hinder comprehension very much, but perhaps when translated that becomes more confusing, I’m not sure.
3 Likes
Wait, that’s a thing in Fate? Are we talking about the series with the Holy Grail and Saber? I’m not too deep into that but I never saw anything like that.
Edit: Well I just learned some things.
2 Likes
Yes, it’s utilized in all 3 routes of Fate/Stay Night (if you’re reading), and the animes generally portrayed it a bit more indirectly iirc. It’s only a major plot point in Route 3. In the other 2 it’s relevant for a single scene, and you only learn about it then.
Otoh not all Fate series make use of that. So depends which one
4 Likes
If I recall correctly, it’s not even in every release of the Fate/Stay Night VN as it’s one of the things that various console companies and localisers have wanted removed
4 Likes
True, the scenes aren’t in various version - including the recent remasters - but it’s still fade to black/implied, and that base mechanic of sexual touch/kiss/etc == more efficient mana transfer is still probably still present in some form. (I haven’t gotten to those scenes in the censored/revised versions yet)
Tbh I’m really really curious about how the censored versions handle Route 3
Nasu himself has said the H-scenes were only included bc they assumed that’s what they had to do for it to sell back then. So I don’t think it’s necessarily from outside influence
3 Likes
Yes, it’s a thing in the original VN. It was changed for the all ages versions, though unfortunately they also had to change quite a bit of other stuff in one route which in return changes a lot and kind of defeats the whole purpose of an important plot point / makes it lose its whole impact on the story
3 Likes
I will continue to read 四つ子ぐらし1 now that I’m almost halfway through it. My pace was really terrible while only reading the book, but when I read along with the audiobook it improved a lot. While I was mostly understanding what was being said (audio) I was mining less words which makes me wonder if I should do that at my level (N4)… I guess what slows down my pace is my brain telling me to add every under 10k frequency word to Anki… 
The book itself is very endearing but I might not continue the series and try to move on to something slightly harder and maybe angsty 
. I do recommend as a beginner LN tho!
6 Likes
I used it also have the same pokemon mentality for common words, but then I realized that if they’re common and you’re reading a bunch you get natural SRS just from reading and looking up words.. maybe that will help you a bit. 
9 Likes
Currently reading volume 8 of お母さんオンライン
And I had to remove the hyperlink because for some reason it led to Another again???! 
2 Likes
I’ve been reading シャンピニオンの魔女 recently, which mostly focuses on the titular character, but a bit of volume 5 and pretty much all of シャンピニオンの魔女 6 | L24 took a turn and focused on the BL love story of her mentor.
On the plus side, it’s nice to get some heavy BL focus in a non-BL story, both him and his lover look great, AND the face of the wife of the love interest when said love interest goes “I want you” to him right next her was hilarious. On the minus side, I am currently invested in the story of the titular character, it’s a flashback, those characters are either dead or gone, so I really don’t care.
Hopefully we get back to our main characters in volume 7 (which I am planning to start today)
8 Likes
