Ooh that’s way smarter than what I did. Bought all volumes before we even began reading due to all the hype 
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I’ve stopped doing that until I’ve read volume 1 (unless there’s several free volumes) after getting a few volumes of Ouran Host club due to the hype, then hating it.
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One thing we could do is ramp up the pace a bit. We’re almost at the one year anniversary of this club, maybe we’re all comfortable going faster after one additional year of practice?
At two chapters/week we’ll progress through the story much faster and then either it’ll get more interesting or we’ll have caught up with all published volumes in a few months.
Alternatively switch the club to a monthly format where we read and discuss one volume at a time.
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To be honest, while I’d normally like that suggestion, I wonder if it would be too much. That would be over 60 pages per week, and I’m guessing lots of people have a load of clubs on the go.
I do think unless people are lagging behind, we probably don’t need break weeks between volumes.
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Yeah I’m definitely in a bunch of clubs myself, I just find Atelier generally a fairly easy read compared to most IMC manga (current entry notwithstanding). I can read a chapter in one sitting without many lookups.
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I’m a relatively slow reader I think, but I do need to work on that if I’m going for N2 later this year!
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Pacing issues
I feel the same re pacing of Tongari in particular and Japanese media in general. Wanting to read manga in their original language was what got me into learning Japanese in the first place, but the constant bloating you get in serial manga (and now LN) is something that’s always bothered me. One of the worst offenders for me was my very first long anime/manga - Inuyasha, which also mostly cured me from picking up serials before they are finished. Tongari’s loss of focus seems very mild in comparison. I’m still invested in the characters, and unless it falls into a monster of the week format, it seems like the glass is half full to me.
This whole discussion reminded me of a bit of dialogue in Oshi no Ko (a story that takes place in the Japanese publishing industry), where a manga artist says that one of the two main purposes of an editor is to make sure a popular manga never ends. Let’s just say I wasn’t surprised.
Btw, I’m also in favor of speeding up if we put it to the vote. I don’t want to leave anyone behind (and I might temporarily lag behind myself at some point), but with the story as meandering as this one it helps me keep my concentration to speed it up.
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Despite my comment above, I don’t feel super strongly either way. I’ve even debated reading ahead and finishing where it’s published to in order to reduce my number of offshoot clubs.
I assume it’s ongoing still? I haven’t checked too much as I didn’t want to get spoilered.
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It is ongoing yes. There are a bunch of chapters not yet published in tankoubon format according to Wikipedia.
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But technically, if we put it to the vote, and 10 people vote for speeding up and 1 for not speeding up, then we are leaving 1 person behind if we go with the majority? I hate polls, so hard to pick between who to make unhappy 
dictature style book club is way easier 
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There’s also the option of speeding up (after a poll), then reversing that decision if people don’t manage it/ putting in break weeks.
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Make it a non-authoritative anonymous poll and we’ll discuss what we do based on the results. Maybe have an “I would prefer one chapter/week but I think I’ll be able to keep up if we go faster” and a “I want one chapter/week and will certainly drop out if we go faster” options.
Make it ranked for extra confusion.
Or change nothing and we keep going this way, I wouldn’t mind either.
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I know! Maybe I’ll make a poll to know if we want a poll and in which format.
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What we really need is a week-long discussion if we need a poll and if so, what poll settings we need.
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Chapter 44 & 45
Start Date: 2025-03-14T15:00:00Z
Participation
Mark your participation status by voting in this poll. (You can change your answer later if you’d like.)
- I’m reading along
- I’m still reading but I haven’t reached this section yet
- I will catch up later
- I’ve read this previously but I’m here for the discussion
- I’m reading this after the book club has finished
0
voters
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Let’s try the 2 chapter a week thing! That also means that we will be finishing volume 8 this week.
Let me know how it goes!
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Perfect timing for my supply line issues 
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Your own fault for not buying the whole series when it was picked by the club 
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The Bookwalker preview only has the first 10 pages, won’t help too much 
you can come read with me but it’s not a physical copy!
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Hopefully I’ll just be a few weeks behind. I could also sail the high seas in the meantime…
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