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Discussion Guidelines
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Instead of the usual membership poll, please vote to indicate when you’ve finished the book!
This is a bonus discussion thread for the epilogue, 閉店, which is only (just over) three pages long, and a place to discuss our thoughts on the book as a whole now that we’ve reached the end.
Congratulations to everybody who’s made it to the end!
And for those still reading, がんばって
Those who’ve finished the book, how would you rate it (where 5 is excellent and 1 is terrible)?
All finished! I really like the book quite a bit. I always happy to read each story, and with chapters split up like they were, always looked forward to finding out how each dagashi “went wrong”/how each problem got fixed every other week.
My reading speed and ability improved so much over the course of reading this. And thinking back to before we started reading, I was legitimately worried about not being able to keep up.
Well, the epilogue did answer questions I had about who decided which individuals the store would appear to and also about why the coins were so important to Beniko-san. Also nice to see a drawing of the lottery wheel described in the prologue.
But of course I still have questions like why does Beniko-san use such language as ござんす, でござんすetc.? Is she from another era? Or is she a obake/youkai? How does she know so much about the characters in the stories? How did the shop come about and how did it acquire it’s magical powers? Well, I guess that’s why Vol 2-11 have been written. lol
My favorite chapter as others have mentioned was the Haunted Ice Cream.
Overall, I really enjoyed the magical creativity throughout the book. I find myself wondering how I would react to this book if I read it as a child.
For me, the book seemed to be just right in terms of the degree of difficulty. It was challenging without being overwhelming. Unlike previous books I’ve read at this same level, I didn’t feel like there were sections in which I was completely lost or had no idea what was going on. So I felt like I made some progress.
A big thanks @Radish8 for doing a great job moderating and to everyone else for your help.
Also thanks to @Elenakiyomi (wherever you are) for suggesting this book. I guess one never knows what one will discover while riding a train in Japan. Thanks for sharing your discovery.
My biggest qualm with this book is that Beniko’s 黒猫 is only mentioned in passing, and doesn’t even appear in any scenes in the book =._.= And I was so hyped when I saw its drawing at the beginning of the book…
On a more serious note, I learned quite a ton from this. Thank you @Radish8 for setting this up every week, and thanks to everyone who contributed and helped answer questions. It was a very interesting change from manga, which is what I read most of the time, and it proved to be challenging but manageable. I even learned how to properly figure out most onomatopoeia from participating on this book club =^.^=
As to the stories in the book itself, it was kind of a mixed bag for me. My favorite ones where the Haunted Ice Cream and the Fishing Taiyaki, but the Charisma Bonbon and the Cooking Tree where somewhat disappointing.
Aww, thank you guys - it’s been really fun sorry I wasn’t so active for the first few weeks. I second the thanks to @Elenakiyomi; this has been one of my favourite picks the club has done so far, and I think it’s a really excellent option for learners at the right level. And thank you so much to everybody who helped to answer questions (especially all mine ) and speculate on the stories!
Agree with @jaearess that it was quite a nice structure with the cliffhangers each week
I finished chapter 6 and the epilogue today won’t tick myself off as complete until I finally complete chapter 3 though
Thoughts on the epilogue
I was actually really pleasantly surprised that we were given so much insight into the nature of the shop itself; I’d resigned myself to the fact that we wouldn’t really gain any understanding of that, I guess because it didn’t feel like the ‘point’.
That said, my very first thought was “what the hell are they doing with all those sweets they produce if they sell literally one product per day?”
Kind of a weird captive labour force too, haha, but maybe I’m just being too cynical
I was pretty intrigued by the idea of releasing the ‘misfortune bug’; it seemed like that was something of a rule. Talking about wins and losses doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s an opponent or gamemaker, but combining that with the sense that she must release the misfortune made me wonder if there’s some governing power at work, or whether it’s just the ‘rules of magic’ and whatnot.
Bit disappointed by the rather clunky delivery of exposition to end; very nice of Beniko-san to narrate her shop’s purpose for the reader
I finally finished the rest of the book! Ironically, I think the 3 chapters I initially skipped (because I fell behind) ended up being my favorite ones xD My favorite chapter was probably 猛獣ビスケット. I liked how each chapter had a kind of unique twist to it, that kept things interesting.
And after reading the epilogue, I kind of love her, uh…employees. xD I love the idea of a bunch of tiny maneki nekos running around making sweets
Looking forward to reading more volumes! Although I stupidly forgot to order volume 2 when I ordered the new book club picks I knew I was forgetting something…
Just finished the book, I had intended to read with everyone here originally and bought the book but life came up
Anyways as Radish said I found it weird to be stuffed with all this backstory all of a sudden in form of narration, but it was interesting and I hadnt thought of how the store was run. I guess I had assumed that Beniko is a witch who makes the candies herself, kinda like the story of Hansel and Gretel.
I liked the book overall and I learned a lot of words and just generally had a good time. Now to see if i’m ready to read some hard novels!
edit oh NOOOOOOOOOO I added it to the first post along with the rating poll but I had to add a name for the poll for there to be two and it erased the ratings
Oh well I guess I mixed up a lot then! I guess chapter 6 then, so the brothers and the cooking tree with the mom. Ill change my vote
Lol i cant believe I forgot so much after only 2 months
It’s always awesome to see that someone found the threads etc. helpful after the club was finished congrats on finishing it!
Voi and I are planning to read volume 2 (a bit faster) starting in May, if you’d like to join us! Otherwise the Beginner Book Club is reading a couple of manga next, or there’s going to be a repeat Kiki’s Delivery Service club starting in June. Hope to see you in one of them
sorry I wasn’t so active for the first few weeks. I second the thanks to 
) and speculate on the stories!
won’t tick myself off as complete until I finally complete chapter 3 though 
I knew I was forgetting something…
(ch6)
