13 Likes
僕のヒーローアカデミア (My Hero Akademia)
Summary
Midoriya inherits the superpower of the world’s greatest hero, but greatness won’t come easy.
What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks”? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?
Availability
Both Digital and Physical in this link, pick your preference when buying
Personal Opinion
Gonna be honest, I fell in love after watching one episode of the anime, bought the manga and that’s where I am now. I was just so captivated about the beginning, I want to know where it goes!
Pros and Cons
Pros
- It is a currently active and popular series. Might help lure in more/new people
Cons
- I know to little to know
Pictures
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?
- 1 - No effort at all
- 2 - Minimal effort
- 3 - Moderate effort
- 4 - Substantial effort
- 5 - So much effort my head might explode
- I don’t know
0 voters
4 Likes
Just so you have something to rate! 
Actually planed on nominating it last time I made nominations, but decided to save some for later =P
2 Likes
Much appreciated 
1 Like
I won’t add any further nominations from this point to the upcoming poll, just to be clear 
2 Likes
デスノート (Death Note)
Summary
When Light Yagami finds a notebook giving him power over death, will he use it for good—or evil?
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects–and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note , a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal…or his life?
Availability
Both Digital and Physical in this link, pick your preference when buying
Personal Opinion
This is my absolute favorite Manga (and Anime). The story is very captivating and thought provoking, and art is absolutely beautiful. I can never get enough of it. I did try to read it in Japanese a few years back, and on my own found it a bit hard (a chapter in the beginning has a few text heavy political/police talk pages, but rest is better, and was before I had read anything substantial before)
Pros and Cons
Pros
- A well known and popular series
- Uses furigana
Cons
- Slightly older, so might be less straight forward to buy new copies
- Could be too dark for some
Pictures
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?
- 1 - No effort at all
- 2 - Minimal effort
- 3 - Moderate effort
- 4 - Substantial effort
- 5 - So much effort my head might explode
- I don’t know
0 voters
3 Likes
I know, I know… it’s not nominations time. But this book is currently discounted on BookWalker (until August 27th) and probably also elsewhere, and so I thought since I will eventually nominate it anyways, I could as well do so already, for those who might be interested in taking advantage of the sale.
小川未明童話集（１）- Ogawa Mimei’s Collection of Children’s Stories, Vol. 1
Summary
Ogawa (1882 - 1961) is known in Japan as the founder of modern children’s literature. He often chose everyday scenarios for his children’s stories. Also, his stories often incorporate religious and philosophical symbolism and the cycle of life. The death of creatures is not final, but is instead just the opportunity to appear in a different form.
This book is (as the title suggests) a collection of children’s stories and fairy tales. It contains two of Ogawa’s most famous stories, “The Ox Woman” and “The Red Candle and the Mermaid”. The stories are rather short, it seems; the book contains 17 stories while it has only 136 pages (according to Amazon).
(Maybe we can read them in increasing length, to get a nice ramp-up? 
)
Availability
Personal Opinion
I think it would be a nice pick for various reasons:
- The texts are quite older than what we usually read in the book club (but they are in modern Japanese), so it makes for a nice change.
- Short stories is also something we don’t see here often.
- Feels like we might be able to get a glimpse into traditional Japanese life, which might be interesting for some.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Different from the usual picks
- Decorated author, as detailed in this Japan Times feature
Cons
- Not full furigana (but a lot of them, so I think it should be fine)
- Maybe some people think that fairy tales are boring?
Pictures
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?
- 1 - No effort at all
- 2 - Minimal effort
- 3 - Moderate effort
- 4 - Substantial effort
- 5 - So much effort my head might explode
- I don’t know
0 voters
11 Likes
At 275 yen a volume tempting to buy all 3!
5 Likes
Good point - to be ready for the offshoot book club just in case 
5 Likes
trouble maker…been looking for shorter stuff to read so it’s harder to fall behind (like the big books that are difficult and/or lose motivation)… now I had to buy all 3 of them…cuz with the exchanger rate it was only 7.11 USD…now I just need to remember they are electronic
2 Likes
Pleasure 
1 Like
Ohh, I think I’ll get those, too. People also read them out aloud on YouTube so you can read while listening or however it’s best used together.
2 Likes
That’s such a weird story 
1 Like
I had not read it fully before, but yes, agreed 
1 Like
Just to give people a heads up, I’ll aim to open the vote tomorrow 
this slightly fell off my radar, sorry 
9 Likes
Vote for the next book now!
Who can vote?
If you are interesting in joining the next book club we run, you can (and should) vote!
Please look under “Current Proposals” in the first post for more details on each of the options, including links to sample pages which will help you gauge the difficulty.
Please take difficulty into account
Some people do find that reading something they love or know already is motivating / makes it easier, but please be realistic. Don’t just vote for your favourite story without looking at the samples and comparing to others. Remember that both language and density contribute to difficulty.
Difficulty Scores
The number in front of each option is a difficulty score based on club members voting, where 1 indicates “no effort at all” and 5 indicates “so much effort my brain might explode”. These scores aren’t objective by any means, so please look at the sample pages of options you’re interested in if you have time.
When will we start and how many will we pick ?
We will likely begin reading on the 26th of September, one week after we finish reading フルーツバスケット. If a short manga (expected less than 8 weeks) wins we will also read the second place option afterwards without holding another vote.
List of "short" manga
At a guess, the following manga would be considered ‘short’. This is purely based on a quick look at the contents page - I’ll try to check any manga in the running more carefully once we have some votes in.
- Shimeji Simulation
- FukaBoku: Love Me For Who I Am
- Nordic Girl Åsa
- Rainbow-Coloured Photograph
- Skip Beat!
- This Art Club has a Problem!
- Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun
The poll is now closed!
You can vote for up to 4 options. Nominations are for manga except where otherwise noted.
- [2.55] Nordic Girl Åsa
- [2.92] Ao’s Island and a Cat
- [2.18] Shimeji Simulation
- [2.53] Rainbow-Coloured Photograph
- [2.31] FukaBoku: Love Me For Who I Am
- [3.05] Skip Beat!
- [2.67] This Art Club has a Problem!
- [2.50] Magi
- [2.61] Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun
- [2.92] Haikyuu!!
- [2.71] My Hero Academia
- [3.20] Great Detective Conan
- [2.15] The Story of Kuuku the Bear Cub // Book
- [3.14] Scary Lessons // Book
0 voters
You can adjust your vote at any time by clicking ‘Show Vote’.
10 Likes
How to vote for 7 picks with 4 votes. 
12 Likes
I posted the poll and immediately realised I hadn’t even thought about what I wanted to vote for 
usually I go into it already having an idea… so I’m trying not to think too hard about it in an effort to keep the number down 
5 Likes
Now I feel blessed that I’m only trying to work out five picks into four votes. Do I drop out this one without furigana although I think I’d like to read it? Do I leave off Detective Conan because I’ve already read it in English (or do I keep it in for that reason?) Decisions, decisions.
3 Likes
Right? I feel like I might be one of those people who change their vote before the poll ends this time.
3 Likes