I ran a simple algorithm of mine across 4,400 manga series and narrowed it down to a list of what should be the easiest manga from that selection. Looking over the top 12, 11 of them are school/romance. With so much setting/genre similarity, I’ll just pick the one I’m planning on reading to nominate.
サクラ、サク。
Summary
An unnoticed high school girl, Saku Fujigaya, changes after a stranger helps her during a crowded train ride. She decides that she will never ignore people in trouble and carries a wish to thank the person who helped her. At her new school, she meets Haruki Sakura and learns that his older brother may be the person she has been searching for.
Availability
Physical
Digital
Natively Level: 21
Personal Opinion
I don’t know anything about this series, but I’ve read other series by the mangaka: 「アオハライド」 in a WaniKani book club, then 「ストロボ・エッジ」, and more recently I finished 「思い、思われ、ふり、ふられ」. I’ve found the characters, story, and artwork enjoyable in each series, and I expect 「サクラ、サク。」 will be no exception.
Based on a stats comparison, I expect this volume’s difficulty (currently L21 on Natively) to be:
- Quite a bit easier than Horimiya (L22) and RuriDragon (L21)
- Somewhat easier than Mitsuboshi Colors (L20) and A Sign of Affection (L19)
- Similar to Cardcaptor Sakura (L19)
- A little more difficult than Soup Shop (L17) and Gal and Dinosaur (L16)
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
- Fairly low text density
- High school setting should mean mostly common vocabulary
- Mangaka has a good track record
Cons
- Slight difficulty increase over the past two ABBC reads
