Roughly halfway through 怪人二十面相 by Edogawa-sensei. I’m still quite enjoying the book, but have to say the plot goes up and down in terms of suspense. I was hoping for a most consistent read and the previous books from him were like this, though one ended a little too early.
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The other book from him I read was aimed at an adult public, so I can’t really compare.
I mentioned it on Natively already, but I feel like 怪人二十面相 is on part with classic mystery children books I read in my childhood. So, in that sense, nothing to complain about. On the other hand, it’s been decades since I stopped being a kid, so it wasn’t the most thrilling read either.
That being said, it’s not a light novel, so I can increase my counter on this thread, finally.
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I just got enough books to keep me busy for a while:
I think I’ll try to finish these by the end of the year, though I’ll have to pick up the pace a bit.
Fun fact: マリアビートル was just made into a movie (Bullet Train), so they made a new cover for it with photos from the movie. But a lot of people hate it when publishers do that, so there’s a second dust jacket underneath, with the original artwork 
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And the trailers of it look absolutely atrocious. Kinda want to see it. 
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Absolutely atrocious? What do you mean? It’s an instant Oscar for comedy 
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Looks like all of 裏世界ピクニック is half off on Amazon right now. I bought the first volume since I’ve been thinking about reading it for a while. Not sure about buying the rest since for all I know I’ll hate the first book. 
I also bought 僕が愛したすべての君へ and 君を愛したひとりの僕へ half off since the premise seemed cool. Basically, the two books are parallel stories of a kid whose parents got divorced, but in one book he went with his dad and in the other he went with his mom. I read the first couple pages of both since they start nearly identically and it was interesting to see what the differences were.
(And so my 積読 pile continues to grow!)
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I finished the 3 volume of 獣の奏者 a few days ago, just in time for 本好き 30, which I finished today.
There are already 200+ people who finished that volume on Bookmeter I did expect some people to read it on day one (including some insane people waiting for the release around midnight), but not that many…
獣の奏者 was great! I still have trouble handling the character changes, but from part 3 onward (where I had stopped previously), they are still related to the same plot, so it was fine. I almost managed the 320 pages I had left in one sitting (but stopped short at 280 pages, then only 20 pages on the next day due to being really busy, then finished on the 10th and immediately moved to 本好き).
本好き itself was great too… mostly. Once again, the main plot was a bit on the short end, with a large number of extra stories. Even the author acknowledged in the afterword that they are milking the remaining content (not their exact wording, but come on).
Still, we are getting close to the end. There are ~40 chapters left, and a volume typically contains 15, so 3~4 volumes left (depending on how much they try to stretch the content… they could even get 5 more volumes out of it, but come on).
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I finished this month’s Harta!
ハルタ ９６号
I enjoyed it a lot as usual! The personal anticipation for this one felt especially high since last month was an off month and Dungeon Meshi especially is definitely in story climax territory. Plus, there’s a new installment of Ryoko Kui’s occasional bonus illustration book, Daydream Hour, in this one!
And at this point it’s also just a really fun to read package of new chapters in tons of manga I like!
In terms of debuts, there’s one that’s a series debut by an author of some memorable shorts, 開花アパートメント by 飴石, and it’s in line with the author’s previous stories in its especially refined art style and attention paid to the historical setting. The series is about a late Taisho-era hotel that seems to collect guests with interesting backgrounds, the first ones we meet being a writer and a private detective.
And there’s ジラソウル -ゴッホの遥かなる道- by 沼野あおい about Vincent Van Gogh and an amnesiac boy who winds up in his orbit. It seems like it’s take on Van Gogh and history will be a bit on the exaggerated side, and there was a silly but fun twist midway through this first chapter.
Some news that came out along with the magazine is pretty exciting!
Dungeon Meshi is going to get an anime adaptation from Studio Trigger, which should be fun and deservingly bring a lot more eyes to it!
I would also note that the first volume is 99 yen with 36 coins back, so I mean… check that out!
I also became aware of this convenient page where you can read the first chapter of the ongoing series in Harta for free if at all curious about them. I think I would personally most recommend:
- いやはや熱海くん
- ダンジョン飯 (anime coming out! Discounted first volume!)
- ﾎﾃﾙ･ﾒｯﾂｧﾍﾟｳﾗへようこそ (this one’s traveled via word of mouth at least like three degrees of separation out from these posts, always nice to see!)
- ふしぎの国のバード
- 司書正
- 希釈王
- 生き残った6人によると (there’s a live action drama of this one on the way too)
- あかねさす柘榴の都
- ハクメイとミコチ
… but you can’t really go too wrong with any of them, really.
other manga report:
- ベルサイユのばら （１）
I read the first (very large) volume of the 愛蔵版 version of Rose of Versailles. I enjoyed it! Although it took a while to read. I love the classic shojo manga style of it, the eyes constantly flashing with intense emotion and so on, and Oscar obviously is very cool, but it took me a while to warm up to the Versailles setting, and like, Marie Antoinette being a main protagonist, since I’m not predisposed to the setting aesthetically and not knowing where the story was going, or much about French history in detail, made me unsure of exactly how to interpret the series’ position on royalty and so on. The series also doesn’t have a super specific plot drive with a lot of forward momentum. Sometimes that can make it feel like Versailles Soup, but when it clicked for me most was when I leaned into all the drama (even to the point of doing voices for the characters), and then the large cast and disparate goings-on felt like it provided some of the satisfaction of something like Les Misérables (the book) just with a more… expensive… main area of focus. I’ll definitely want to read volume 2 (and the 外伝)… but I think I might bounce it back a little in the queue rather than try to rush through it now, since it’s still going to take a while and I’m a little antsy at how long it’s been since I read more short manga volumes. - 高橋留美子劇場 （２）
I also read the second volume of this collection of Rumiko Takahashi shorts. They’re fun! They’ve all got a similar domestic, but a bit madcap vibe as the stories in the first one. Some memorable ones for me were the slightly morbid one where a girl suspects a family vacation is a pretext for familicide due to bankruptcy, and one where a failed businessman learns some humility by filling in for his wife at her part-time job.
There’s also one that involves a golden retriever, which accidentally gets big bushy eyebrows drawn on it in permanent marker at the beginning, seemingly just because Takahashi wanted to draw a golden retriever with big silly eyebrows for the rest of the story, a choice I support.
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You might already know this, but Sakisama from Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling enters to the opening theme of the Rose of Versailles anime. I’ve neither read nor watched the series, but I’ve always wondered how much it’s an influence on her, and on the NEO美威獅鬼軍 aesthetic in general.
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Probably not a small amount!
Along similar lines, Utami Hayashishita’s entrance routine, where she gives a rose to a woman in the audience, seems extremely Rose of Versailles, especially since she added a very Oscar-esque cross recently.
It seems like a very important touchstone - pretty sure I first heard about it from Wandering Son using a school play of Rose of Versailles as an extended plot device, for example.
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I just grabbed volume 12 and there was an advertisement for it on the obi! It made me think of your post. Also, the content of the manga corresponds to ハルタ87-95?!? That’s some tight schedule publishing!
Does that mean that if I buy ハルタ96 I’ll get directly the next chapter? Or is there some trick?
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No trick! Harta #96 has chapter 86 of Dungeon Meshi if that helps corroborate.
There’s some series in Harta that are 6 times a year, so in those cases there would be a trick (since the magazine itself comes out ten times a year) but Dungeon Meshi is every issue.
And yeah, it seems like from what I’ve seen in the magazine, when a new volume comes out it usually goes right up to the preceding month!
At least for series that regularly have tankoban anyway - it seems like new series are more likely to store up banked chapters until multiple volumes come out at the same time, or odd things like that.
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Finished reading 世界の終わりに柴犬と vol 1
The lack of furigana made it quite challenging and sometimes the inside jokes were a little too abstract for me, but by the end of it I got a hang of it. I also have vol 2 and will get back to it as soon as I read 君の名は.
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It’s getting hard to think where to post, considering I have like four threads (across two forums) where I talk about the books I read
Anyway, I’m just going to copy-pasted what I just posted on the other forum.
I finished the first volume of ティアムーン帝国物語~断頭台から始まる、姫の転生逆転ストーリー~ (series) | L31 yesterday and read a bit of volume 2.
The writing is nothing special but decent (for a light novel). What annoyed me, though, is that the narration, despite not being a character, has its own voice and keeps using it to tell us how much the main character is garbage. Since the main character is the one I (and readers in general) identify with, that really doesn’t feel pleasant at all.
Plus, I don’t mind that the achievements of the main character are basically a variation of “even a broken clock is right twice a day”. That’s what happens in 乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった... (series) | L26 too. But if the “broken” clock is right all the freaking time, I don’t care if, instead of clockwork, it’s working out of pixie dust or an improbability drive. It’s not a broken clock anymore.
I think the part I hated the narration the most is around the time there are two princes, who are consistently described as hot, making a nice display of friendship. Most of the girls in attendance (including partially the main character, since she hates one of those two) really enjoy the view, which basically invites the reader to do the same. And then the narration goes something like
By the way, I’d like to remind you those two are like twelve.
Gaaaaaaah just why.
That being said, the plot is fun. It’s not that special, but solid for a light novel. I also like the fact that there’s proper romance (even though they are 12-13 at this point). I will definitely read the volumes I own. We’ll see if I keep going beyond that.
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I just read volume 12 today, but I am still on the fence about buying the magazine. Especially since the volume ends on a positive note, but I expect everything to go down the drain immediately since the lion sword thing is still around.
But if I don’t buy it, it’s going to be almost a year until the next volume 
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Yes and no! Circumstances-wise… maybe… but it feels a lot more positive anyway now that the party’s together again!
The Hotel chapter that issue doesn’t require reading any chapters you haven’t read yet, if that tempts you further helps you decide!
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I don’t post in here often anymore after shifting my focus to listening, but I just finished 弱キャラ友崎くん 6 (audiobook) and wanted to write some thoughts. I quite recommend this series, and figured I would talk about why.
There’s only one LN series I’ve read that I felt had an “impact” and it was 妹さえいればいい. Silly and ridiculous book from start to finish, but damn it packed a punch in the latter half.
Just finishing 弱キャラ友崎６ now though, I realize I might have stumbled across #2 series like this.
This series starts out with the main character being the most typical loser who blames the world for his problems. But, with the help of a certain individual, he does his best to improve himself and live a more fulfilling life. Its a very silly story with silly characters and his silly interactions with them with his silly mess ups trying to be more normal. He realizes that everyone has their own problems, and its kinda your standard slice of life where small issues come up and they get over them and achieve so and so goal.
Until volume 5…
In this volume, the problem that came up…just kept getting worse. But not to fear, the main character is the brainiac gamer and he came up with a solid plan to help them get through it. They go through with the plan and its a big success! Except for it isn’t and the problem has gotten exponentially worse. I won’t say what happened after that, but it kinda tipped me off that this series wasn’t as pointless as I thought it was, and similar to imosae had actual depth buried beneath the ridiculousness.
Volume 6 kinda confirmed that. Like damn, actually a lot more depth to these characters than you would initially think. So much room for character and relationship development, so I am very excited to see where the series goes. It will be interesting to see if it can compete with the GOAT of character development, いもさえ.
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Hmm, maybe.
Speaking of which, I just got around to actually read volume 2. A bunch of fun stuff happened too!
- The marriage part was pretty stressful.
- I wonder if the ghost is going to be a thing, or is just a one shot gag? I need to check if he appears in one of the pictures of the previous staff members.
- Both brothers are giving me such bad vibes. Many red flags here. That being said, the younger one is pretty hot, in a wild way, and there’s some chemistry here with Jun.
- Wha? The mother lives nearby? Plot!
- Doggo!
Anyway, I’m done geeking for this time.
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Huh, I’ve put 弱キャラ友崎くん on my to read list a couple days ago because, according to jpdb, I have a rather high words known % (for me anyways) but was a bit turned off by the typical setting. Might need to bump it up the list 
Thanks for sharing 
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Yeah its a pretty typical setting and the author doesn’t use hard words or anything, so its a pretty friendly book to pick up I think if you’re worried about difficulty. I was very surprised to see how popular it was in general because I thought it was another basic series, but I think it’s popularity (which im sure helped give rise to the anime adaptation and audiobooks) is pretty well deserved after getting through vol 6.
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