I like this. 
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Truly words to live by!
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I can’t really think of anything I’ll never read, but I can think of some things I’m more or less likely to read. To be honest I get the impression some of it just is the exact opposite of a lot of the people who already posted - at least that means there’s a decent variety of opinions 
(and obviously these are all personal preference, other people are free to enjoy whatever they want to)
More likely to read:
Fantasy - any fantasy books in general, though I tend not to enjoy the books that are very heavy on worldbuilding fully as much as the ones that aren’t, but there are exceptions. “Trashy” (as some would describe them) books are totally OK too, especially if with a female protagonist. This really goes for everything on my list.
Romance - Either very wholesome romance or the exact opposite, either is fine. Overall I prefer modern day things and yuri, but other romance can be fine too. Interestingly enough I wouldn’t really say I enjoy reading romance in English, though. A lot of people seem to not like school settings but I don’t mind them personally
Typical action shounen manga types of stuff - superheroes, hot-blooded sports or card games, fights with superpowers, those kinds of things
Finally, not a genre on its own, but overall I must admit I sometimes have a bit of a fascination with characters who are absolutely crazy or very weird, but mainly only if in one of the types of stories I’m more likely to read (I can’t really say why)
Less likely to read (but I’ll still read them ocasionally):
Short stories - The most common exception is collections of short stories that collectively form a connected larger body of work, or short stories with ties to other things I like
Very literary books - I’ve read a small amount but I’m less likely to seek them out on my own. May still rarely borrow them from the library or something though
Horror - There are exceptions but I’m less likely to read horror in general. Especially if I’m on my own and it’s late at night
Hard sci-fi - I can’t really give a good reason for it but it tends to feel less appealing to me in general
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Outed if it were real life? Then sure, I agree. But these manga don’t usually have the character get outed early on. After all, more time to build up the tension can mean a bigger conflict and payoff later on. My two big examples are 現実もたまには嘘をつく | L21 and 狼少年は今日も嘘を重ねる | L27.
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Like yandere crazy or just very quirky? Yuno from Mirai Nikki or Rikka from Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai?
For me, yanderes can be interesting depending on the rest of the story and characters, but give me a quirky girl like Rikka any day.
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Both! I was thinking of both types when I wrote that, which probably is what led to the somewhat ambiguous phrasing
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May I suggest this taken to the extreme via 理由 by 宮部みゆき? (kidding, sort of)
But actually 半落ち by 横山秀夫 is probably a perfect example of this. Such rich characters!
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I have a feeling you would enjoy the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbø. At times it was a bit too violent for middle schooler me, but otherwise I enjoyed it. Disclaimer: I read this series like over 10 years ago.
Summary from the author's wikipedia page
The series follows Harry Hole, a tough detective working for Crime Squad and later with the National Criminal Investigation Service, whose investigations take him from Norway to numerous other countries. Hole takes on seemingly unconnected cases, sometimes found to involve serial killers, bank robbers, gangsters, or the establishment, but spends a significant amount of time battling alcoholism and his own personal demons.
The Harry Hole novels are multi-layered, violent, and often feature women in peril, as typified by The Snowman. On the return of Harry Hole in The Thirst, Nesbø said: “I was always coming back to Harry; he is my soul mate. But it is a dark soul, so it is – as always – both a thrill and a chilling, emotionally exhausting experience. But Harry and the story make it worth the sleepless nights.”
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Ooh I actually have The Snowman (English translation) on my shelf waiting to be read! I skimmed it a bit and it did indeed seem very much my style!
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Favorite types of books :
- Romance - I like it when the characters care about each other and they fall in love. ゆびさきと恋々、薬師と魔王、わたしの幸せな結婚、A Court of Thorns and Roses, Discovery of Witches (esp the first book).
- I used to read a ton of BL, but not so much anymore. The series Heaven Official’s Blessing/Tian Guan Ci Fu (TGCF) has a special place in my heart.
- Fantasy - Especially if there’s romance (almost all of the titles above are fantasy
). 本好きの下剋上、Drakeguten (Norwegian, nynorsk). - Comedy - I like me a good giggle
- Mystery - 薬屋のひとりごと、誰が勇者を殺したか
- Slice of life elements - It’s very chill
Least favorite types of books :
- When the romance has those episodes of a third person entering the scene ruining everything.
- Harem probably? I don’t think I’ve read any, but I like reading about how a romantic relation between two characters is developing - I wouldn’t want the story to jump around between characters, not committing to anyone or the relation not going anywhere
- Very literary books - Does not seem very appealing to me. That said, I’ve read 世界から猫が消えたなら recently (if that counts?) and it was surprisingly okay (rated it 4/5).
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If you’re interested in an English book, I’d recommend Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. It’s one of my favorite books from the last few years and blends fantasy and romance really well.
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This is a fun topic!
My tastes in English are actually really picky. My top genres in English are fantasy/sci fi but I’ve gotten so picky that I rarely enjoy new sff books when I try them, so these days I mostly just read classic literature. SFF series I like in English are like, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, The Locked Tomb series, the Imperial Radch series.
In Japanese I’m a lot more willing to read/try whatever, I want to give lots of genres a chance.
I still like sci fi, horror, and fantasy. One of my favorite manga reads from last year was ウスズミの果て 1 | L27
I’m pretty willing to explore different genres, though. I’m especially interested in a work if it’s foundational in its genre, affected a lot of works after it, that kind of thing. So I like to go back to the ‘roots’ of a genre and see how it developed. I like old stuff, and stuff that’s rough around the edges sometimes!
I don’t really read hetero romance, but if someone highly recommends a series then I’ll give it a try. I’ve enjoyed some BL romance but mostly the kind with fantasy elements (like TGCF). Things like that are more of a for fun type of reading and not reading to edify myself.
I also don’t love things that are too cutesy with no point. Like ‘cute girls doing cute things’ manga where nothing happens. I like some cuteness but there’s a line hahaha.
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I know you like ghosts, what about ghosty almost-BL?
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Oh fun
Like:
- Found family. I am such a sucker for this. See also: nakama, team as family, etc. Genre is secondary if it has this prominently.
- Time travel. There’s just. So much potential. You can do so many interesting stuff with this.
- SciFi and Fantasy. I enjoy good world building, especially if the author goes the “orange and blue” morality rather than “earth, but a little to the left”. It can be such an interesting sandbox.
- Isekai. Again, lots of potential. It’s just unfortunate most of it is aimed at horny teenagers. My threshold for BS is pretty high though so if there’s potential I can skim over the ugly bits (e.g. chainmail bikinis, off-color jokes, small breast jokes, yada yada), so long as the characters, world, or plot are interesting.
- Horror. My favorites are the creeping dread can’t-trust-your-senses type over the gore-and-jumpscare type.
Dislikes:
- Romance. I give more leeway to bad tropes in BL, GL, and other non-cishet romances for the sole reason I haven’t been oversaturated on it yet, but in general (there are some exceptions) I really dislike romance or sexual attraction in my media.
tongue-in-cheek ranting
Most of the time this so-called “romance” is at best physical attraction wherein a formally interesting character looses all interest in hobbies, friends, and braincells to replace them with pining thoughts about the LI. Any that remain become centered around the LI. It’s a waste of a perfectly good character!!
And then! Then!! During the courting and (if the author ever lets them progress at all and not just stagnate in the same tired tropes for the entire series until the last volume) even after they get together they never seem to get to know each other beyond a surface level? Like hobbies, life goals, political positions, spending habits, kids yes or no, what each other wants out of a relationship??
And then once the will-they-or-won’t-they honeymoon is over, the author needs a new source of drama…do they explore a deepening of the relationship, how to (or even if they can) reconcile major differences in goals, expectations, or changing life circumstances, anything?? Have them grow a strong relationship based on communication and teamwork? Oh…nope, let’s just introduce a third character and perceived or actual cheating. Cool. Coolcoolcool. Add a dash of stupid misunderstandings due to miscommunications…which probably could have been avoided if they’d ever had a single deep conversation in their lives, but noooooo.
And THEN there’s issue with romance as a genre in general where either the MC is a bland self insert or the LI is a cardboard cutout made to cater to the MC’s every fantasy. Just…uhg. At least when it’s an Action, SF, Fantasy genre I can ignore the dumb background things not tied to the plot. But romance makes it the plot.
…don’t take this too seriously. I just avoid the genre unless I get a good rec. I’m sure all the things I detest are things other people like hahaha
- Arena Arcs. Such a boring way to set up fights, poor on plot. Unoriginal. Seems to take up 50% of an otherwise good story. Anime adaptions looove to stretch them even further.
- Revenge Fantasy. VERY rarely done nuanced or interesting. Reasonable people are disproportionately punished and this is treated by the narrative as just. Maids just doing their jobs who have no power get slapped. People are single faceted and cartoonishly evil. MC can do no wrong. This COULD be interesting…if the narrative didn’t treat it as objective truth and just deserts. Honestly one with an undertone of Unreliable Narrator could be SO interesting, but it never is.
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That’s the part I really like in romance series! I agree about the problems you mentioned (and they frustrate me to no end as well), but those exist as well. I find them rare enough that even if they aren’t perfect, I’d still like the series 
Actually, two of my current favorite series (悪食令嬢と狂血公爵 ~その魔物、私が美味しくいただきます!~ | L32 and 魔導具師ダリヤはうつむかない ~今日から自由な職人ライフ~ | L29) have a lot of that. Sadly, the first one is on indefinite hiatus as the author has a day job that apparently doesn’t want them to do stuff on the side and the second seems to be a bit stuck in where to go from there (i.e. the series is currently focusing on other stuff instead of the romance part, so I paused my reading of it )
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As a kid I devoured anything with dragons, magic, or fantasy worlds in it. I remember asking my elementary school librarian for a “books with a map in the front” because that almost always meant the book took place in a fantasy world. As I got older though, I’ve been finding it harder and harder to find English language books that really capture my imagination.
This. Although my solution in the past two years is just to read in Japanese instead. (That said, I am totally listening to the audiobook for A Tale of Two Cities rn, so maybe I just am @soggyboy 
)
One book that really got me in the past few years was This Is How You Lose the Time War. Absolutely loved it. I also got really into the Murderbot series.
I think as I’ve gotten older/more picky I’ve broadened my reading and will just read pretty much anything that’s good. But things that will absolutely hook me are:
BL. And more recently, GL. Het romance? Nah. Any queer characters at all? I’ll give it a try. Centers a relatively healthy queer relationship, I’ve already read it 14 times. I’m also fine with unhealthy relationships that aren’t full of homo/transphobia and other really stale tropes. As evidenced by my physical manga collection 
Vampires.
Fantasy elements with a mostly real world setting. I’m struggling to think of good examples of this, despite really liking it. I guess 神様はじめました 第1巻 | L28 and 夏目友人帳 | L26 kinda fit this vibe?
Genre subversion.
Honorable mentions:
Shonen manga written by women 犬夜叉 | L25 (and honestly, most of 高橋留美子’s works), 鋼の錬金術師 | L29, anything considered shonen by CLAMP, etc.
Big robots go pew pew. I will forgive a lot of sins if your story has big robots in it. I, unfortunately, still don’t consume a lot of big robots go pew pew media.
Things I don’t like/will drop a book for:
Horror. As someone said earlier, it’s not so much that I don’t like horror itself, it’s that I have an overactive imagination and just cannot get the imagery out of my head and end up with nightmares for days.
Poorly written female characters.
Bad writing, generally. Bad prose, meandering plot, flat characters. I do not have enough time on this earth to suffer through poorly written stories, even if they have promise.
Dystopian YA novels. Can we please fixate on something else for a while?
Animal suffering. I make pretty good use of Does the Dog Die.
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Thanks! I was going to bookmark the first one, and found it already on my wishlist so I’ll give it a shot!
I’ve actually read the first 4 volumes of Dahlia in Bloom (it’s localized name) in English and it’s in my “exceptions” list! I’m enjoying it a lot because she keeps her friendships and hobbies (they actually get better after she dumps the dead weight!), and the story forces Dahlia and the ML to get to know each other as friends first due to their circumstances. Plus the flashback to her relationship with her dad are great and I enjoy her building her business a lot. Making it technically isekai/reincarnation was a weird choice as it…doesn’t seem to actually matter much other than occasional inspiration for magitech.. I own the first volume in JP, I should reread it that way.
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Big same on these. Despite adoring all sorts of gruesome genres and themes if there is animal death as a main focus or any animal cruelty I tend to nope out.
I tolerate some meh female characters (I don’t like to, but 
) but if all your ladies feel like damsels in distress or fantasy girlfriends I’m out.
I also remembered another niche I don’t like! And I don’t even know why I don’t like it beyond I just find it so boring Stories that center around food. So much Japanese media is like 癒し系 with cooking and omg, I can handle some 癒し系 but the cooking ones? No, no, take it away 
But also even comedies about cooking or restaurants I just get so bored.
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I had to think on this for a long while / go through my reading list to see what tends I could identify. There’s probably exceptions in any direction
Favorite
- Yuri & Class S
- Bonus for 恋人未満 / 友達以上恋人未満
- Long shoujo style slow burns (something I really wish yuri had more of)
- Anything with heavy character development, especially if it utilizes recharacterization/recontextualization
- Long series (assuming they’re otherwise interesting)
- Non-generic isekai
- Some amount of terrible ppl doing terrible things, as long as the story doesn’t try to convince me it’s a good/cute thing
- Well-written love triangles/polygons
- Well-written NTR (generally takes the form of a storyline rather than being the main story)
- bonus for stories that look like NTR and then subvert it
- Well-written age gap or other taboo topics
Least favorite:
- Yuri series that end at the confession (or shortly after)
- Unrealistic depictions of women
- Generic Isekai with generic protagonists. If the name sounds like a sentence, I’m probably bored
- Law enforcement & military. Exception: 鋼の錬金術師 | L29
- Harems - generally terrible character writing. Exception: 五等分の花嫁 | L23
- Moe manga with women who appear, substantially younger than they are, especially if sexualized
- Stories that feature terrible consent or abuse and try to play it off like it’s a cute or good thing
- Iyashikei or slow-paced slice of life that don’t have some additional element
- Fantasy with long, dragged out battles
- Sports festival and play arcs
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I love reading about bad power relationships or twisted relationships in general and hard same on “so long as you don’t try to convince me it’s actually cute”. Like I know it’s bad, sell me on the bad!
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