You’d probably find 半落ち | L39 a rough read then, or at least parts of it. It touches on Alzheimer’s at multiple points. Gorgeous writing, though.
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Thanks for letting me know. Thanks to 記憶屋, I realized that it’s fine as long as I am supposed to be afraid of it. I think that’s kind of a rare case, though.
(Ah, and, interestingly, I am not affected if the character starts as amnesiac/ has no memory of who they are or got there)
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ngl, some books are on there because of that thread. 
I have quite a few books by 住野 よる (君の膵臓をたべたい | L30, よるのばけもの | L29, か「」く「」し「」ご「」と「 | L25??, https://learnnatively.com/book/5172334152/), because I enjoyed https://learnnatively.com/book/2c1e37ec2e/ and it was fairly easy 
I have also learned that I will not read この本を盗む者は | L36 any time soon. I know I won’t enjoy it if I am struggling. Need to get really 上手 first. 
Just a heads up if you ever plan on reading that: https://learnnatively.com/book/e85b4bd246/ has 1 “case” that deals with this topic. and just in case, it’s not Japanese, but you might come across it And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman | Goodreads but you better steer clear of that one. It’s written in the perspective of the person losing his memory. Heartbreaking but beautiful.
nah, all input is welcome. If I know someone hated a book and why or someone liked a book, that’s helpful, too. Also in the future since I can gauge whether our tastes align or not. 
I think I might just go with one of the 住野 よる books next, just because there are so many and it should be a fairly quick read. 
But first, probably gonna knock out コンビニエンスストア様 as per @cat 's recommendation. 
After that, maybe 獣の奏者 (1) | L33 since it has been positively mentioned twice and apparently
so that’s less of a commitment than I thought. Very helpful info to have.
Thanks for the comments so far. 
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It does seem to have rather divided opinion. Personally I didn’t have trouble with it difficulty-wise but I found the aspects of the story the author wanted to write about were not the parts I wanted to read about… I’m currently reading it mostly just to finish it, not because I’m enjoying it.
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I read it already!
That was rough, but it helped that the story never focused on his point of view but on that of his wife.
I did speed through that part, though.
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Oh, I didn’t know NHK ni Youkoso had a ebook version.
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Yeah, it has some manga pages at the end that seem to be an ebook add-on. 
(Just realized calibre used a weird cover… gonna fix that real quick 
)
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The manga is darker than the anime, and the book is way darker than the manga from what I recall when I read it.
It’s such a shame that the author hasn’t really done anything interesting since then.
It’s using the old edition cover, I think I have that book in physical form somewhere. Might be a bit of a rarity.
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I loved 今夜、世界からこの恋が消えても | L28. Lot’s of crying to be had. Also, it’s easy. Do recommend :3
… maybe skip the second one though.
I also liked https://learnnatively.com/book/2c1e37ec2e/, but 君の膵臓をたべたい | L30 is one of the few books where I thought the movie is better than the book (Though I also liked the book. Made me cry. I like crying over sad books.)
https://learnnatively.com/book/1b8b543513/ was a book I thought I’d like, because it was another potentially sad one, but instead it was mostly just silly? The events didn’t make much sense imo 君の膵臓をたべたい felt very similar in terms of general outline, but was much better. And if you want to cry there’s still 今夜、世界からこの恋が消えても 
… I’d probably put よるのばけもの | L29 and カラフル | L29 on the bottom of that list
Both are books with a point to make and feel like they’re written for younger audiences. よるのばけもの deals with bullying at school, カラフル with suicide. Perhaps if these topics are more relevant to the person reading, but I don’t think they’re particularly well written either, so…
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I just finished reading やがて君になる 佐伯沙弥香について 1 | L29. It was alright, though I’m not sure it added much of interest that the manga hadn’t already touched on. I’m also not sure how the second book will be, but I’m definitely planning to read the rest of the series since I want to see the events of the third volume which should be entirely new content.
That said, I’m really struggling to decide whether to reread the manga (since it’s been over 3 years since I read it) before reading the remaining LN volumes. Part of the problem is that I just bought a ton of manga over the last few months, including all 8 volumes of 青い花 (another yuri series), so it’s hard to justify reading 8 volumes of something I already read. But it’s also one of my favorite manga series and rereading it could be fun. Please help me decide fellow Natively users.
Note: In the preview the links below actually converted to the text, which doesn’t seem to have worked in the post itself… so I’ll just mention that in both polls options the first link is やがて君になる (series) | L24 (manga) and the second is やがて君になる 佐伯沙弥香について (series) | L29 (LN).
- Reread やがて君になる (series) | L24, then read the rest of やがて君になる 佐伯沙弥香について (series) | L29
- Skip やがて君になる (series) | L24 and go right into the rest of やがて君になる 佐伯沙弥香について (series) | L29
- Procrastinate making a decision by reading something else entirely
0 voters
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Alright, you all voted for me to read something else, so I’ll probably get started on 魔法少女育成計画 limited (前) | L35 sometime in the next few days (when my brain isn’t fried from work). It’s been a while since a read anything in this series, and with a 16 character cast (mostly with weird katakana names) it’s always a bit overwhelming at the start. But I do enjoy the series overall and it should be good once I get started.
P.S. Best character name for this volume is definitely 7753.
For manga, I’ll be finishing the 4-koma manga I’m reading soon, so I’ll need a new one. Please help me decide what to read next.
- 箱入りドロップス 1
- 社畜さんと家出少女 2
0 voters
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I’m currently reading the physical books for 獣の奏者 and the 夜カフェ series, and I have half-hearted intentions to finish 佐賀のがばいばあちゃん and Tugumi eventually.
But I want to have an e-book on standby because let’s face it, they’re more convenient!
I finished 世界から猫が消えたなら and チュベローズで待ってる AGE22. I liked the dark humor in the former and I liked how the latter pulls you in and doesn’t let you go (and actually drags you off into the deep end). A lot of fast-pacing dialogue helps and I enjoy the thought provoking elements as long as the story is interesting.
Here’s what I currently have in my digital library, so any feedback is welcome!
- かがみの孤城 上
- コンビニ人間
- 博士の愛した数式
- 眼球堂の殺人 ~The Book~
0 voters
I’ve read 博士の愛した数式 in English years back and enjoyed it, but I kinda want to read new content right now. I started かがみの孤城 上 a while back while reading the other two books I finished so I had to put it on hold. I don’t mind some slow parts if the whole book isn’t like that and the payoff in the end is worth it.
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I’m impressed you only have four!
I highly recommend both かがみの孤城 and コンビニ人間. I haven’t read 博士の愛した数式 yet, but I really need to get to that at some point… I bought it all the way back in September 2021, but still haven’t prioritized it. Maybe this year’s the year.
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That’s because it’s cheaper to buy physical books here. 
Most of the ones I have were 100 yen at Book Off. Too bad it’s harder to keep track of (remembering where I last left the book when there’s a chance to read it like waiting at the clinic).
Thanks for your input! I actually have a few more, but among them, these are the ones I want to get to first. Originally it was going to be a poll between かがみの孤城 上 and コンビニ人間 but they both feel too similar to the last books I read so I thought of adding more variety.
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I voted for 眼球堂の殺人 ~The Book~ for partly selfish reasons - I own it and would like to read it eventually, but I also like reviews of books I intend to read.
鏡の孤城 I never really felt the slowness of. I know it is a slow burn, but I wasn’t bored. That isn’t true for a lot of people - plenty of people find the leisurely character development frustrating. It really doesn’t get exciting in the traditional sense until maybe 3/4 of the way through if I ballpark from memory. Then everything clicks together in a very satisfying way.
So I guess, take those into account for my votes.
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I am currently reading かがみの孤城 and it’s boring me if I’m being honest. Most of that boredom is due to the age of the characters and the particular problems that come with it. I’m far removed from that age, and I didn’t even enjoy it when I was living it. That said, it does offer interesting insights into the Japanese way of thinking, and I hear the payoff is good.
コンビニ人間 I read recently and I enjoyed a lot. It’s not a book for everyone, but I very much enjoyed the main character’s unique point of view.
博士の愛した数式 I’ve also read in English and liked it, but not as much as darker stories by the author. In any case, I agree that rereading is less exciting than new content.
As for 眼球堂の殺人 ~The Book~, I also own it and am interested in reading it at some point. We could even form an impromptu club if you like. 
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Lately I feel like I’ve been falling back to reading things I know I can read comfortably (around the 30-33 range) so I want to try and challenge something more difficult level wise. Right now I’m between these three.
0 voters
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I did end up rereading the entire やがて君になる manga over the last 9 days. Partly this was because I wasn’t in the mood to read any of my other manga. Partly this was because some reviews of volume two of the LN (which I skimmed to avoid spoilers) suggested only reading the LN after having completed chapter 40 of the manga. But I course I didn’t remember what happened at that point in particular, so it was the final push I needed. It really is an amazing series. I love the character progression throughout the series.
Once I’m done 魔法少女育成計画 volume 5 I’ll read volume 2 of the やがて君になる LN. Then I’ll probably just rotate back and forth twice more to read volume 6 of 魔法少女育成計画 (it’s a two-parter) and finish the やがて君になる LN trilogy. That’ll take me at least a month though, so not sure what I’ll read after that.
Also, now I’m back to not knowing what manga to read. At the moment I’m most interested in reading 先輩はおとこのこ (series) | L22, but it’s not as simple as usual. The manga was originally a web comic and is entirely available for free, but only in Japan. So I’d have to be on a VPN to read that version. Or I could just buy the regular manga adapted version, except only half the series is published and I’d be stuck waiting another 1-1.5 years for it to end. So the best option is probably to read the web version on a VPN for free, but as usual region locking sucks.
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That’s good to hear. I noticed it felt fast-paced to me because it’s much easier to read with fewer lookups. But the narration style feels confusing at times. Thanks for your input! (^^)
I know I bought it when you pointed out the discounted price haha. I was hoping you had already read it so I could read your review!
I’m sure @cat and I wouldn’t be mad if you do! 
I will be behind you guys and finish months later but the motivation from a reading group helps!
Thanks also for your very detailed feedback. Really appreciate it! 
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It’s currently nominated in the Mystery Club, so if you’re not planning to start it immediately we can wait to see if it gets picked at some point. If you do decide to read it before that and would like some company though, do give me a shout, as I’m very likely to join you.
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