【推しの子】Volume 1 | Free to read until January 31st, 2026 (JST)

[GolyBidoof]

Welcome to the 推しの子 Speed Run Book Club!

This is a part of a well grown and 100% mature idea for a bookclub - reading titles over the time when the titles are free on Japanese manga sites!

Still based on the idea introduced in the IBC thread, previous speed run book clubs can be found here:

• 自転車屋さんの高橋くん Volumes 1-3: September 30th to October 13rd, 2025
• 花野井くんと恋の病 Volumes 1-3: October 27th to November 9th, 2025

The goal of this book club is to read the first two volumes of 推しの子 until January 31, 2026.

Volume 1:

• Bookwalker
• ebookjapan
• cmoa

Vocabulary list for Volume 1 on Manga Kotoba

【推しの子】1 | L30

JP summary

「この芸能界において嘘は武器だ」
地方都市で、産婦人科医として働くゴロー。芸能界とは無縁の日々. 一方、彼の“推し”のアイドル・星野アイは、スターダムを上り始めていた。そんな二人が“最悪”の出会いを果たし、運命が動き出す…!?
“赤坂アカ×横槍メンゴ”の豪華タッグが全く新しい切り口で“芸能界”を描く衝撃作開幕!!

EN summary

Best-selling Japanese manga that has been adapted into multiple awards-winner anime. The story of a doctor and his recently-deceased patient reborn as twins to a famous Japanese musical idol, Ai Hoshino, and navigate the highs and lows of the Japanese entertainment industry as they grow up together through their lives.

Just in time for the third season coming out on January 14th!

Currently, the difficulty level of 推しの子 is informed by its first volume, which has a special structure: the manga becomes easier after the first volume, but first volume will remain a challenge.

This is the most difficult manga the speed run book club has seen yet, but I’m still considering it fit for Intermediate Manga Club!

Hint! If you’re having difficulties reading at difficulty levels as high as this one, the best way to make your life easier is by scraping your manga with a script, such as this for Bookwalker, and then running manga through a script such as Mokuro in order to enable lookups of the more specific terminology.

Since this is a speed run book club, the formal end of this book club will occur on 2026-01-31T14:59:00Z, but feel free to continue with us afterwards, and if you’d be interested in continuing with a spin-off book club for the remaining volumes, let us know and the threads can be created!

Do you want to join us in the 推しの子 speed run book club?

• I’ll be joining together with the book club!
• Joining after the book club has finished!
• I’ve read the manga in the past already!
• I’m reading the manga in English, but I still want to discuss!
• Just lurking/discussing the plot!

Please use this thread for volume 1. All spoilers should go behind blurred spoiler tags or in the a hide details drop down.

Calling the potentially interested people: @shitsurei, @downtimes, @Akashelia!

Thread Navigation
Volume 2

[downtimes]

Thanks for setting it up. I’ll definitely seize the opportunity to read the first two volumes. I think it will be interesting how many people actually join or if the L30 natively scares of potential readers.

[GolyBidoof]

@downtimes

I think it will be interesting how many people actually join or if the L30 natively scares of potential readers.

A bit unrelated and definitely based on my own personal opinion, but I’ve both read some of the manga in the past in English and the final volume in Japanese, my experience with the final volume was that it definitely, strongly, did not feel like a Level 30 manga, I’d put the final volume as easier than この音とまれ! | L24, but I know how the manga is structured and that it’s the first volume that is heavy on exposition and difficult terms that will be difficult to go through.

Hopefully, if we go through it together, it should feel cozier to read! ^^

[Malinkal]

Well I haven’t read any manga in a while, it’s a 三連休, and I’m in a binging mood…
Will probably finish both today
Thanks for posting about this, Bidoof book club operator arc?

[GolyBidoof]

@Malinkal

Bidoof book club operator arc?

better than the alternative

I’ve started reading the first volume, might not read the whole one today but I’ll keep my updates on a chapter-by-chapter basis!

[GolyBidoof]

Chapter 1

Page 34, oof, this word got me xdd

I found it really hard to even imagine what this word could’ve been before trying to highlight it, but it does make sense now!

Same with

on the same page.

Chapter 2

…it’s the first time i’m realizing that this name is actually composed of kanji and not just katakana xddd

Chapter 3

is this we in the western world habitually refer to as the “russian bot army”

Chapter 4

Oof, the difficulty is speeding up

I spent a long time trying to get through this panel…

Also, the terrifying faces that アイ makes is absolutely a part of the appeal of the series ^^

Chapter 5

Me when I watch my favorite movie and then it ends pre-maturely xdddd

Chapter 6

First time ever seeing this kanji

お陀仏です, kicking the bucket ^^

Also, me when I haven’t done groceries and there are no snacks left at home:

Chapter 7

O hey, I just had the word 遊戯 recently towards the end of WaniKani and I was wondering what contexts would it be useful in ^^

Chapter 8

me when i haven’t done groceries but my mom did and now we have snacks but before she leaves my mom tells me how much she loves me

Chapter 9

this is the most heartbreaking part of the whole manga

Chapter 10

…aaand we’re going back to かぐや様 mode of projection ^^

Finished the first volume! I’ll take on the second one tomorrow ^^

[Malinkal]

@GolyBidoof

O hey, I just had the word 遊戯 recently towards the end of WaniKani and I was wondering what contexts would it be useful in ^^

遊戯王 ofc

I finished too, not very neat or comprehensive notes but here

vol 1 (not really spoilers but from whole volume)

件の is new

Lots of medical vocab to lookup which I will not be doing.
I hate medical vocab

愛久愛海

今風に言うと has a weird reading

壱護 is a terrible name

ズレずにいられない

イケメンと再婚, isn’t that what we all want

世も末 is a very “old person shouting at clouds” word

極楽浄土
is indeed a hard word

learning all that from youtube is quite funny but really not that far removed, saw it with my younger sibling

お灸を据える I’m pretty sure I picked this up from the anime and haven’t seen it since

[Akashelia]

@GolyBidoof

Calling the potentially interested people: @shitsurei, @downtimes, @Akashelia!

I approve the initiative!
However I am feeling strongly committed to read only from my 積読 at the moment so I’ll pass, but have fun everyone! (plus reading 3 volumes of a series that has 30 feels a bit like a trap, what if I like it? knowing myself then I’ll just have to go ahead and read the 27 other volumes )

[Chimmsen]

I’m in Though I highly doubt I will have an easy time, I’m still only in those purple natively levels

Before I’m starting to read, could someone help me to avoid spoilers? I just started the anime together with my husband and I’m not willing to read any further than we’ve watched yet We watched the first movie length episode and then the second regular length one. I guess the first volume covers the movie?

[Malinkal]

Yeah the first volume basically maps perfectly to episode 1. Haven’t started volume 2 yet so can’t comment, but pretty sure it goes a couple episodes in given the length

[downtimes]

So I just started, had to finish some other stuff this weekend. Going in pretty blind since I have not heard much about it other than some minor spoilers:

Chapter1 (first 43p)

She’s 16, an orphan, pregnant and an idol since about 4 years which means she started at 12… Is the author trying to make her some kind of failed experiment o_O?
Her line regarding lying and love is also really warped.
I don’t understand yet why she keeps the father hidden (how she became pregnant) and why the doctor was assaulted.

Let’s see where this story goes

[eagleflo]

It’s a great first volume for the series. I was wondering how they’d handle it in the adaptation – and they really surprised me by basically doing first volume = first episode. Kudos for that.

横槍よこやり メンゴ has a really distinct art style. She is very active on Twitter and often draws fanart of other series she likes – especially a lot of チェンソーマン art while this series was ongoing.

It would be curious to know exactly how she and 赤坂アカ collaborated on this series – it feels like she is also taking the reins with the story sometimes… and アカ was also busy with a less successful manga 恋愛代行 while writing this one, which really kind of surprised me. I guess I can say that although I really liked https://kaguya.love/ anime, I actually don’t think アカ is a great writer… at all. I kept reading because of メンゴ.

Yeah, this first volume was actually a much harder read than the later volumes… because we shift to idol culture rather than medical vocabulary. I think many people got the wrong idea about the difficulty based on just the first volume.

There’s one part of the manga series which I really can’t wait to get adopted… I think we might be getting it towards end of season 3.

[bellacarr]

I’ve been meaning to read 推しの子 since season 1 of the anime came out, I can’t wait to get started

[shitsurei]

@eagleflo

Yeah, this first volume was actually a much harder read than the later volumes…

That’s nice to know bc I’m not exactly flying though it, but it’s not really hard (just dense maybe).

[mitrac]

@GolyBidoof just a suggestion to link the new overarching Speed-run club in the home thread of these so that people find it and set it to watching! I almost missed that you created the overarching one somehow, which is really awesome

[GolyBidoof]

Is it this one?

Master List of Book Clubs

Hey hey, I just added a section for a new book club in the OP, Speed Run Book(/Manga) Club as we’ve finally made it official: [image] The original thread can be accessed here: Please join us if you’re looking to feel a bit more confident reading manga! We’re at four series as a part of the book club already!

we’ve added it to both the OP and left a comment underneath, though we might need to move the book club mention around ^^

[mitrac]

I meant in this thread the first post. (and the first post of the other club). Maybe I’m missing it but it currently mentions the IBC and IMC (which is fine). You mention other Speed Run clubs but not the overarching Speed Run club home.

[downtimes]

Got up to p92 now. I didn’t know the manga would go that absurd. The story feels pretty “random?” at the moment. I can’t tell where it is going.
I find the interview snippets at each beginning of a chapter interesting, even though they don’t give much to work with. The stars and stuff in the eyes is certainly also an interesting way to draw them.

What I wrote contents wise (ch2+3)

Poor wife. Here take care of two twins. No questions asked, or any opinions even allowed -.-. I’m feeling kinda sad for her. But honestly, her reason for marrying him are also not on the sane side.

What I don’t get is that the Manga is trying to be funny. E.g. the confusion with aqua and ruby. But it feels only cringe and falls totally flat for me. It’s also somehow in contrast with the story.

EDIT: Ah, totally forgot. Learning tons of otaku and idol culture words here. Seems at least useful for that

[GolyBidoof]

@downtimes

I find the interview snippets at each beginning of a chapter interesting, even though they don’t give much to work with. The stars and stuff in the eyes is certainly also an interesting way to draw them.

Having hindsight of the later volumes, I can tell that those “interviews” are conducted in random places throughout the story to get you interested in the mystery and show you where the story might go in the future, though in a bit of a chaotic way ^^

One of the interviews made me go like WAIT A MINUTE, as it directly referenced one of the events happening in the part of the story that hasn’t been adapted by the anime yet, but it wasn’t explicit enough to let you know what exactly is happening in that part of the story ^^

@downtimes

What I don’t get is that the Manga is trying to be funny. E.g. the confusion with aqua and ruby. But it feels only cringe and falls totally flat for me. It’s also somehow in contrast with the story.

I think it’s a bit of the style of the author unfortunately, even though this manga was supposed to be serious, the bits and pieces of かぐや様 are still leaking through and it is one of the criticisms of the manga as well ^^

TEAM RUBY NOT AI xddd
(I got gifted an Ai figurine a while back for birthday, and I’m not a huge figurine girlie but she’s looking at me as I sit at the desk and do different things sometimes ^^)

@downtimes

Poor wife. Here take care of two twins. No questions asked, or any opinions even allowed -.-. I’m feeling kinda sad for her. But honestly, her reason for marrying him are also not on the sane side.

Was there even marriage? I always thought it was just two teens messing around and finding out a little too late ^^