Issue #79
Cover & Cover Story: I love a building cross-section!
最終回 / Last Chapters!
★ ライカの星 by 吉田 真百合 （よしだ まゆり ★
(Obviously I had to read this one first.)
Feb 10, read to page 12.
Feb 11 morning, finished.
Oh man. That was so good. I can’t even think of anything to say about it. I ordered the book. 
A few hours later … I’ve entered ultimate fan territory … I’ve started plotting to embroider myself a Laika no Hoshi shirt, even though I’ve never done embroidery before …
新連載 / Series Debuts
★ ことり文書 by 天野 実樹 (あまの みき) ★
Feb 11 lunch, read to page 7. From the cover page, it seems like this will be a short-term series.
Afternoon, finished! At first I thought maybe I wouldn’t like the art style, but it grew on me. It’s very expressive of the main character’s personality, and I like all her hair swirls. Very sweet first chapter.
読切 / Shorts
★ なっちゃんはテンションで水深が変わる by 中原 ふみ (なかはら ふみ) ★
Feb 16 breakfast, read to page 6. (It’s not hard, I’m just really tired.) Lunch, finished.
Very short and simple, but also very surreal. I liked it.
アリスの小さな夢のあと by 梅ノ木 びの (うめのき びの)
Interesting … I recognized the name 梅ノ木 and … unfortunately it’s from a story that I was not as impressed by. Oh well, let’s see!
But first, because I don’t trust yomikiris for evening reading, I’m gonna read next issue’s 夜の名前を呼んで!
Feb 19 lunch, read to page 13. I read and understood most of the words on the first two pages, but I don’t think I follow the meaning. … Lewis Carrol was also a photographer and took pictures of all kinds of people, most famous was Alice who inspired his book. Alice was energetic and as gorgeous as an empress, her forced smile was unhuman/otherworldly … holding a bouquet bigger than a cabbage, she chattered like a monkey … and so the photograph was a huge failure. That’s how I read it, and I can kind of see how it makes a little sense, but I still feel like I’m off somehow.
So far it feels a little cliched and predictable …
After lunch, finished. Meh.
★ 延長戦の雨やどり by 木原 悠里子 (きはら ゆりこ) ★
Feb 19 afternoon, read! This is the same person who did 忍と姫 (think I got that right) but even so I was surprised by the twist! Fun, kinda silly, and cute. I wonder if they’ll do more in the future …
連載 / Continuing Series
クプルムの花嫁 by namo
Feb 10, read to page 7.
Feb 11, I think I will save this for an evening reading session.
Feb 12 evening, read to page 10. (Was trying to read while my partner was playing a very interesting part of Breath of the Wild, so …)
Feb 19. Oh shoot, I forgot that I never finished this chapter. 
Will try to read it and update soon!
Feb 20 breakfast, finished. I think I forgot about this one because I paused in the middle of a (short but) fairly dry tourism info section. But actually this chapter was super cute! I’m glad I went back for it.
先生、今日どうですか by 高江洲 弥 (たかえす やや)
Feb 11, evening. Read!
(今月は俺に時間割かなくて済むね (page 9) I think I need to look into 済む further, this is one of at least two times I’ve seen it recently and not really understood it.)
This is the first time I’ve read two full chapters in one day (well, two and a half actually)! I definitely pushed myself a little to reach that milestone.
With regards to the story the little sister clearly steals the show! I hope we get more of her! Also, um, are her parents using Murasaki to bait the author??? They talk about some kind of “Murasaki leaving an impression sakusen”, but that was one of the things in this chapter that I didn’t totally get.
ホテルメッツァペウラへようこそ by 福田 星良 (ふくた せいら)
Feb 12 breakfast, read to page 20. Lunch, finished.
Hmmm, interesting … I’m not completely convinced that it’s okay for an adult policewoman to tell a 17 year old boy that he has to take his clothes off instead of having a drink? I guess it’s meant to be all in good fun and also he needed to take off his clothes in order for her to see his tattoos … But that part was weird for me. Other than that, pretty cute and sweet though!
生き残った６人によると by 山本 和音 （やまもと かずね）
Feb 13 breakfast, read to page 14. Lunch, finished.
Hmm, odd chapter. I guess we learned that Renren lacks substance? I liked the bath setup the girls have going on.
★ 夜の名前を呼んで by 三星たま (みつぼしたま) ★
Feb 13 evening, read. It was over too soon! Super sweet chapter. It’s nice to learn that Mira has two living parents who care about her! I feel like that’s so unusual in the genre of children with magical afflictions.
アビスアジュールの罪人 by 冨 明仁 (とみ あきひと)
Feb 14 breakfast, read to page 16. Lunch, finished.
Ooh, ominous. I feel like this might turn into a murder mystery? Lots of times creators will put something right at the beginning of the story that sets expectations for the story. But I feel like I have no idea what to expect with this story.
真柴姉弟は顔が固い by 菊池まりこ (きくちまりこ)
Feb 15, paged through. I started reading, then kind of lost interest when I found out that the love letter in Akari’s shoe cubby was addressed to her brother. I paged through a whole long sequence of her agonizing about what to do (handing it to him and saying "looks like someone mixed up our shoe cubbies” appears not to be an option for reasons which remain unclear to me). Eventually she comes clean, then it turns out it was just an invitation to club activities.
Meh. I feel like this is one of those series that doesn’t work well at a slower reading pace. Like, a lot of the jokes probably land flat just because of how slow I’m reading and how many look-ups I have to do to get to the punch-line. Might drop this one for now.
I was looking at tables of contents for upcoming issues, and it’s really interesting that there will be no series debuts in the December or February (the next two) issues! And then the whole format is going to change shortly thereafter. I feel somehow nervous about this for some reason.
Sidenote: I left my dates on things as I figured it could be of interest to folks how fast or slow I finish things. And if it’s not, I hope it’s at least unobtrusive.
Additional comments on issue 78
I thought it was really interesting that the yomikiri that I wholesale skipped was the standout piece of that issue for @rodan. Of course everyone has different preferences for their fiction, which is A-okay, but it does make me consider going back and reading it at a time when I’m emotionally prepared. Or I might wait until I get to the other story by this mangaka and see if I like that one before going back.