Absolute Beginners Book Club // Now Reading: 10 minute Scary Stories // Reading Next: A Sign of Affection

[ChristopherFritz]

ふだつきのキョーコちゃん

Summary

Fudatsuki Kenji is known in school for two things: for being a delinquent and for having a sister complex. He constantly follows his sister Kyoko around, fixing her giant ribbon and chasing off any boys who might be interested in her. However, the truth is much stranger than people believe. He actually doesn’t have a crush on his sister—in fact, he likes Hibino, the only girl in class who isn’t afraid of him.

The problem is that his sister is literally a monster. She’s a jiangshi (vampire), who is much stronger than an ordinary person and who needs a certain amount of blood from Kenji each day. Her ribbon keeps her in check, but if it comes off, she instinctively attacks the nearest person. Her ribbon also has a huge effect on her personality. With the ribbon, she’s irritable and sharp-tempered, but without it, she’s extremely sweet and apologetic (while she attacks). Will Kenji be able to keep his sister from hurting anyone, and maybe find some way to overcome his sister-complex reputation enough to have a chance with Hibino?

(copied from MyAnimeList)

Availability

Physical: Amazon JP・CDJapan

Digital: Kindle・Kobo・BOOK☆WALKER

Personal Opinion

As an earlier work from the creator of Teasing-Master Takagi-san and When will Ayumu make his move?, this series has a similar charm. For fans of those series, I feel this one will be a good fit.

Pros and Cons for the Book Club

Pros

• Similar difficulty to other works by this mangaka that were well received in the ABBC.
• Has recurring themes from chapter to chapter.
• Uses furigana.
• The series is complete at seven volumes, so if you want to keep reading, you don’t hit a drought waiting for releases.

Cons

• Heavier in dialogue than the noted other works.
• Longer chapters mean every chapter would be split across multiple weeks.

Pictures

First Three Pages of Chapter One

Additional Pages

Difficulty Poll

How much effort would you need to read this book?

• No effort at all
• Minimal effort
• Moderate effort
• Substantial effort
• So much effort my head might explode
• I don’t know