It’s a bit of a meme at this point, and as a result is sort of the go-to sentence to demonstrate that particular use of です
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I’m going to be honest, as much as I would probably gain from going with other books in the ABBC series, I don’t think i want to stop reading ルリドラゴン, even though I’m only 30 pages in. I love this art-style and humour so much, that I’d love to carry on reading through an off-shoot book club for it. Assuming the rest of the chapters are just as entertaining as this first one, that is 
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There won’t be an offshoot club for it for a while. It only has one volume and the series is on an indefinite hiatus
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Oooooh, just to leave us wanting more! 
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There was this tweet from the author about two weeks ago
So while it seems we’re not getting a continuation for the time being, at least things seem to be slowly improving (at least, that’s how I read it).
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According to a friend who taught english in Japan これぺんです is the first sentence taught and that’s why it’s used everywhere
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Strangly enough, the best explanation I found comes from redbubble.com:
“Kore wa pen desu.” is a joke phrase used in Japan, because in many Japanese schools “this is a pen” is the first English phrase they will learn to help understand the basics of English grammar. Of course this is a phrase that you will never need to know,
edit: guess I was a bit too slow
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It was also elevated even further into meme status by that one video using it to demonstrate why speaking Japanese supposedly spreads covid less than speaking English does, according to the people in the video at least (I’m mostly sure virologists don’t agree)
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It’s been a while since I’ve seen this video 
and yes as someone with a virology background I do not agree.
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Of course this is a phrase that you will never need to know,
Closest I’ve ever gotten:
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I’m assuming わ is just an emphatic expression here?
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Pretty much!
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Since I’m getting more and more tired and don’t know how long I’ll be awake still, a bit earlier… week 1, here we go!
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So excited, just bought the book on BookWalker! Yesterday was my last exam (had four of them in one week 
) for this semester, so now I can fully concentrate on japanese.
Happy reading you all!
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This is my first book here in the ABBC too! I am looking forward to read this one with you.
However, I “read” some manga (mostly the kana + furigana) to get the feel of it. If the story is interesting enough and the pictures convey the feelings, I think you are going to have a fun time. 
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I started going through the first pages with someone guiding me and i’ve been told that the way of speaking found in anime and manga is very different from the way people speak irl.
I wanted to read manga as a way to learn while doing something fun and see the grammar/vocabulary in action so i remember it better, but now i’m worried that i’ll catch some bad habits and i don’t know whether i should continue or abandon and find a book or something… It doesn’t help that every single sentence seems to have been written with some arcane artifice that i should’ve known in advance to understand it.
The way i see it now, i can’t “read manga to learn japanese” and i need to “learn japanese to read manga”, but you people have more experience than me with this. Any thoughts on the use of manga for learning japanese and the idea of catching bad habits from manga?
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I dont think youll catch any bad habits, learning off manga is completely valid. Think of it this way, have you ever read an english book that has natural dialogue? Maybe you havent noticed it but the way they speak in books, its not exactly the same as how someone would say it in real life.
In my opinion, its not worth worrying about, if you want to learn to speak good, you have to learn with real speaking. You’ll be fine.
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Disclaimer: I’m still very much in the process of learning Japanese, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
I don’t think you need to worry too much about this unless you’re planning to use manga as your exclusive resource to learn Japanese.
There’s a lot of over familiar speech in manga/anime and some characters talk weirdly. But… you’ll probably figure out yourself that the catgirl who inserts nya everywhere, the ex-mafia or your typical JoJo character are not who you’d want to emulate when talking to actual people.
It’s the same with English cartoons. Are they a good primary source for learning English? Probably not. Should you try to talk like those characters in real life? Definitely not. Can you still reinforce vocab and grammar using them, especially if you enjoy watching them? Absolutely.
I know that it’s frustrating for now, but if you keep at it, soon you’ll meet those “arcane artifices” again, and then you will know them in advance. And maybe it’ll comfort you to hear that this is something that most of us went through. It’s just part of the process of learning to read native material.
Let me quote @anon99047008 here:
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And on a related note, as far as learning natural speech goes, a SoL manga like this one is loads better than some chuuni power fantasy isekai, so you could do a lot worse than things like Ruri Dragon if bad habits are the concern.
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If you’re reading manga to learn how to read/listen/watch (consume) Japanese, you’ll be fine.
If you’re reading manga to learn how to write/speak (produce) Japanese, that’s where a problem arises.
Reading manga (or anything else native Japanese) will help you learn and understand the grammar, vocabulary, and patterns that come up in the language. But not all these patterns will be ones you would use when writing/talking.
Spending time learning Japanese through reading manga via a book club can make it easier to transition to more natural-sounding material that doesn’t have the support of a community of fellow readers answering your questions.
Make sure you know what you want to do with Japanese, and as you become more familiar with the language, you can pivot your learning strategies to ensure you are constantly moving in the right direction.
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