soggy’s catch-up corner
My home post for reviews of series that I’m reading outside the magazine issue format!
昴とスーさん
Volume one thoughts (spoilers!)
I read this whole volume yesterday and decided to sleep on it to let my impressions percolate. The art is really nice and atmospheric, and it’s quite easy to read, so that was nice.
What I kind of came away with was the impression that the age regression creates this sort of barrier to their relationship which then creates a vibe of tender longing where they can’t be together. What I wondered about that is kind of like… why not write any other type of real-life couple that can’t be together and so has moments of tender longing, like a gay couple, or an interracial couple, etc? I mean, why does it have to be age regression, I guess, is the question 
It kind of reminded me of those YA dystopia stories I used to read as a teenager where it was all like ‘imagine a world where love is forbidden 
’ and they just mean ‘love between two straight people of the same race/class/etc’ because, of course, in the real world, all kinds of relationships can be and have been forbidden. That’s not to say I hated the story of this manga, I guess I just wondered why one would reach for this particular story and barrier to a relationship. Like, it almost felt at times like I was reading a gay story about straight people.
Of course, the specific factor of the age regression does raise a lot of questions for me too. Like, okay, they’re pretending to be siblings. Where is his family? Do they know what happened, or do they think he disappeared? Where is her family? What if they come to visit and hear from someone else that she has a little boy living with her? I also recognize that it’s tough for him to be constantly treated like a child when mentally he isn’t- I wondered if this remains for long enough, would he start to feel like a child? I also wondered if he would ever be turned back, or if the conclusion of the story would just be that she has to wait for him to grow up, which would show that she has eternal patience for waiting for him, despite society saying they can’t be together. If that’s the case, then, y’know, again, that could be any number of other societal barriers that aren’t ‘in love with a man that was cursed to have a child body’ 
So, that raised a lot of thoughts for me, but I’m still curious about this manga so I’ll keep reading and updating you all!
Volume 2 Thoughts
Volume 3 Thoughts
ダンジョン飯
Volume 1 Thoughts
Volume 2 Thoughts
Volume 3 Thoughts
Volume 4 Thoughts
Volume 5 Thoughts
Volume 6 Thoughts
Volume 7 Thoughts
Volume 8 Thoughts
Volume 9 Thoughts
Volume 10 Thoughts
Volume 11 Thoughts
Volume 12 Thoughts
The book club is still ongoing so I don’t have complete posts for the final two volumes.
catch-up status
| To Read-Finished | Harta End | Collected Vols | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo Castle Girl High School Students | Ends 81 | 4 | |
| Dungeon Meshi | Ends 107 | 14 |  14/14 |
| Nicola’s Demon World Travelogue | 4 |  1/4 |
|
| To-Read- Maybe | |||
| A Bride’s Story | Transfer 80- ongoing | Lots |
| To Read- Catch up | Vols before 75 | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Subaru and Su-san | 4 | 3/4 |
| Cuprum’s Bride | 1 chapter- free to read in Eng | |
| Primal Gods in Ancient Times | 3 | |
| Isabella Bird in Wonderland | 7 |