Oh man it really ended on a cliffhanger. Bummer. I still don’t know whether I’d commit to a full offshoot club but I’d definitely stick around for at least one more volume.
In case anyone’s curious this arc goes on for 2 more chapters in the 2nd volume. The 2nd volume also has a breather chapter and then ends on a mini arc with no cliffhangers.
The 3rd volume has the second major story arc and ends on a breather chapter that than connects to a mini arc in volume 4.
Volume 4 also has the third major story arc. I won’t comment on volume 4 other than saying that was the point of no return for me.
It was the point where I realized there was no way that I could stop reading. It was the point where I decided I’d have to buy all 9 remaining volumes (and i did plus 3 more hanako related books that include an amazing artbook). So yes it won me over so hard at that point.
So what happens now that the book is over? Do we just transition over to the next book? Is there a grace period?
I also want to know what everyone thought of the first volume? I did reccomed the book saying the art was amazing and the Japanese used was relatively simple and that the story is really good, but i said all that knowing what happens later on in the series. I was wondering what you all thought as first time readers.
As a first volume it’s a bit slow because it has to go through all the character introductions and world building which slows down the pace but is essential in the long run.
For myself, i think my first impression on reading Hanako is that it’s adorable. I don’t know about you but the scene where Yashiro pretends her ‘melons’ got bigger by stuffing them made me giggle. And Hanako’s sometimes sadistic sometimes mischievous sometimes kind personality was really fun.
I initially really liked the art style. The character designs and expressions were adorable and had me laughing to myself on more than one occasion. I knew nothing about the series and therefore had no idea what to expect going in. It started off strong, but after ~chapter 3 I started to lose interest because I thought it was just going to be episodic fights every chapter. The dense anime dialects also slowed things down a lot for me so I felt like I was getting less enjoyment for the effort I was putting in.
That being said the last couple chapters have started to pull me back in. That in conjunction with what you’ve said has definitely intrigued me enough to keep reading through at least one more volume before deciding whether to commit to the series. I’m committed to a few other bookclubs right now so I’m a bit limited in how much more I can take on.
I imagine @Radish8 will post some polls soon about peoples’ impressions and gauge interest in an offshoot club. Then if we continue we’ll probably start next week.
Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like there’s enough interest to continue as a book club, so I’ll probably just plan on continuing reading on my own time. Thanks to everybody who participated!
Maybe not a formal structured book club but maybe a thread for those who are planning to read and maybe need a place to discuss the material and share their thoughts. We can create a thread for each volume and have it be there for when its needed, or maybe that’s just a half-baked idea i don’t know
Incidentally volume 16 comes out September 27th in case anyone decides to binge read like i did.
If you set up a thread for volume 2 I’ll stop by! Might be a week or so before I can start though–I got a bit behind in studying this past week and I also feel the need to finally get across the WK finish line.