レンタルおにいちゃん Reading Club

Japanese Language Reading
#1

Welcome to the レンタルおにいちゃん reading club!

The Absolute Beginner Book Club read through volume one of レンタルおにいちゃん.

This offshoot reading club is to continue the following three volumes, through scheduled reading.

Currently reading volume 3.

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What is this series?

Summary

両親の他界…優しかった兄の豹変…独りぼっちで傷ついた少女は昔の兄の優しさを求め、“おにいちゃん”をレンタルする―――お金で。「レンタルでも、私は“家族（ぬくもり）”がほしい。」

Her parents have passed away… Her kind big brother has changed completely… A girl, alone and hurt, in search of the kindness of who her brother used to be, she rents a “big brother”…for money. “Even if it’s a rental, I want family (warmth).”

Little Kanami has lost the warmth of family at home, following first the death of her parents, and second her once-kind big brother becoming distant and abusive. She lacks the warmth of friendship at school, where classmates either bully or ignore her. When things seem to be at their worst, Kanami meets Makoto, a young man whose kindness is exactly what’s missing from her life. Makoto, seeing a reflection of his own childhood in Kanami, offers a proposition: any time she’s feeling down, she can rent time with him as a big brother.

Where can I buy it?

Online shopping options
Store Format Volumes
Amazon Paperback 1, 2, 3, 4
CDJapan Paperback 1, 2, 3, 4
Pixiv Digital Series
BookLive! Digital 1, 2, 3, 4
BOOK☆WALKER Digital 1, 2, 3, 4
ebookjapan Digital 1, 2, 3, 4
Kobo Digital 1, 2, 3, 4

Where can I read online?

レンタルおにいちゃん was originally released as a free comic on Pixiv. Later, it was redrawn and released commercially. The commercial release includes furigana (missing from the original release) and new chapters. Chapters from the original release and select chapters from the commercial are available through Pixiv.

Links for reading online.

Note that some of the commercial links may become unavailable at a later date. They are available at the discretion of the author and Pixiv.

If the commercial chapter link takes you to Pivix’s main page for the series, just scroll down to the appropriate link. For example, chapter 7 part 3 is listed as 「第7話-③」.

Volume 1

Chapter Pixiv Commercial
1 Full Chapter Full Chapter
2 Full Chapter Parts 1, 2, 3, 4
3 Full Chapter Unavailable
4 N/A Parts 1, 2, 3
5 N/A Unavailable

Volume 2

Chapter Pixiv Commercial
6 N/A Parts 1, 2, 3, 4
7 N/A Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
8 Full Chapter Unavailable
9 Full Chapter Full Chapter
10 Full Chapter Full Chapter

Volume 3

Chapter Pixiv Commercial
11 Full Chapter Full Chapter
12 Full Chapter Full Chapter
13 Full Chapter Parts 1, 2, 3
14 N/A Parts 1, 2, 3, 4
15 N/A Parts 1, 2, 3

Volume 4

Chapters 16 through 20 are not freely available online.

Discussion Threads

Vocabulary Lists

Grammar Spreadsheets

15 Likes
レンタルおにいちゃん Volume 1 (Absolute Beginner Book Club) - Finished!
レンタルおにいちゃん Volume 2
I am on level 10, and getting burnt out
Master List of Book Clubs
Master List of Book Clubs
Good reading materials for level 10?
レンタルおにいちゃん - Week 13 Discussion (Absolute Beginners Book Club)
Absolute Beginners Book Club // Starting May 1st - Teasing Master Takagi-san // Currently Reading: 10 Minute Biographies
HOW are people managing reading on the early levels?
レンタルおにいちゃん Volume 3
レンタルおにいちゃん Volume 1 (Absolute Beginner Book Club) - Finished!
Master List of Book Clubs
#2

Yeyyy, thanks @ChristopherFritz for setting it up!! :smile: :smile: I´ll take advantage of this interim time to continue with more Bunpro (where I´m most lagging) and Wanikani to gain a bit more knowledge for volume 2!

5 Likes
#3

I might, might, use this time to actually read volume 1.

I’m getting back into study mode.

5 Likes
#4

Oh! This looks fun! I’ll read volume one up a bit this weekend and see if I can join up with the rest of y’all on Nov 20th !

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#5

Thank you so much for setting this up! I’m overjoyed that I won’t be alone in continuing with this series :smiley:

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#6

Woho!

I won’t be alone, when going through the next volumes! @ChristopherFritz you’re a legend. :+1:

2 Likes
#7

Excited to read the next ones with all you again! :smiley: Does anyone know how much more difficult the series gets?

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#8

I’m not sure how good I am at judging difficulty but to me the difficulty in later volumes seems pretty consistent with the first one. There are some parts that seem a little more challenging similar to the school scene people seemed to struggle with in the first volume, and there is a bit of Kansai dialect starting in volume two but aside from that I felt like it was a pretty similar level, maybe a little harder in the later volumes.

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#9

I was really struggling with Kansai parts, but aside from that, I also think it was a similar level.

3 Likes
#10

I’ll third @Pyororon and @Aislin.

The difficulty doesn’t really ramp up too much, except for the introduction of a Kansai-dialect character who appears in a few chapters. He’s the sole reason I’ve split chapter 9 into three weeks, rather than two. (Ah, I somehow messed up the reading schedule chapter numbers. I’ll fix that.)

Aside from that, some chapters do have more complex situations taking place, but nothing too much more difficult that the harder parts of volume 1.

If you survive volume 2, it’s coasting all the way from there.

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#11

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#12

@ChristopherFritz

I was wondering. Wouldn’t the Volume 2 art fit better as the image in the top post?

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#13

I actually almost went that route, @WalterMeiren!

I originally planned to represent the current volume being read. However, there will be a separate thread for volume 2 specifically, which will use the volume 2 cover. Having the same cover page image on both the home thread and the volume thread can be confusing on where to post.

I’d considered using a different series artwork from the mangaka, but the home thread for other multi-volume series threads tend to show the volume one cover. (example, example, example).

Edit: Since the series is only four volumes, I’ve updated the image to incorporate all four. I think that should work for a home thread =D

5 Likes
#14

Alright, I’ve decided I’ll join for volume 2!

I sped read the first volume (my very first book!) but I went so fast I’m not sure if it counted as reading or just looking at the pictures :sweat_smile: This time I’m actually going to make sure I understand the majority of what I’m reading and hopefully participate in the discussions.

Would anyone recommend I reread the first vol. in the meantime? I understood the storyline, but again, mostly due to the photos.

#15

Have you read through the volume 1 book club threads? If not, you can absorb volume one story details and grammar covered there.

1 Like
#16

Love the artwork! :top: :top:

#17

For volume 2, we’re going in with a near-fully populated vocabulary sheet. I’ve added links for each chapter into the main post.

Want to look up words in advance? Check out pages 3–18 on the chapter 6 vocabulary list.

Volume 2 contains almost 500 different words and expressions. Counting different inflections (conjugations), it’s a whole lot more. Many of these words are returning from volume 1, but there are also a lot of new words in volume 2.

Looking at volume 2 on its own (without considering volume 1 vocabulary), here’s how many words/expressions will appear for the first time each week:

Chapter Week Words Percent
Chapter 6 Week 1 71 14.46%
Week 2 48 9.78%
Chapter 7 Week 3 63 12.83%
Week 4 51 10.39%
Chapter 8 Week 5 62 12.63%
Week 6 46 9.37%
Chapter 9 Week 7 42 8.55%
Week 8 34 6.92%
Week 9 26 5.30%
Chapter 10 Week 10 22 4.48%
Week 11 23 4.68%
8 Likes
#18

Hi! Does this spin-off book club have separate pages for separate weeks, or do we just post on this thread?

#19

I’ll be putting up a Volume 2 thread in the next hour (very soon!)

All posts for volume 2 will be in that one thread.

1 Like
#20

Volume two’s thread is up and running!

7 Likes