Beginner Japanese Book Club // Now Reading: 気になってる人が男じゃなかった // Next 葬送のフリーレン, then ウスズミの果て

Ok, no matter the book/manga you choose, I’m joining you guys. No excuses.

I can’t go back on my word now, dammit.

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The webnovel seems to be crazy long :open_mouth:
But the manga looks interesting ^^

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@Abstormal If you want to nominate 進撃の巨人 do it in the next few days. I’m going to close nominations this weekend.

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I lack the book so can’t include image of the first few pages for evaluation =( (will get it in 3-4 weeks)
If someone else has it, I can help write up the rest.
If not it will have to wait till next round

You can use previews from digital copies:
amazon (not recommended)
ebookjapan
bookwalker

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That worked, thanks! And thanks for helping with the links! included all three =)

** 進撃の巨人 - Attack on Titan*

Summary Amazon.com:
“'In this post-apocalytpic sci-fi story, humanity has been devastated by the bizarre, giant humanoids known as the Titans. Little is known about where they came from or why they are bent on consuming mankind. Seemingly unintelligent, they have roamed the world for years, killing everyone they see. For the past century, what’s left of man has hidden in a giant, three-walled city. People believe their 100-meter-high walls will protect them from the Titans, but the sudden appearance of an immense Titan is about to change everything. Winner of the 2011 Kodansha Manga Award (Shonen) and nominated for the prestigious Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize for 2012.”

Availability
amazon
ebookjapan
bookwalker

Personal Opinion
The story is basically about wartime, when resources gets thin and how humans band together and against each other in hard times. It’s about humanity and survival, high class vs low class citizens and so on.
A great story that moves at a good pace, with strong characters and good storytelling. The first volume has a good start of the story, and can be enjoyed even by those who don’t plan on reading on.

Pros and Cons for the Book Club

Pros

  • Uses a lot of kanji, all with furigana (no wall of kana)

Cons

  • Strong images

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
  • Just right
  • Challenging
  • Impossible, even with everyone’s help
  • I don’t know (please click this if you’re not voting seriously)

0 voters

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Oh, man. That chapter when he wakes up! :smiley:

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That’s some ah
That’s some kind of art right there.

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Quite. Wait until you see what it looks like when they salute - it’s the most awkward-looking thing I’ve ever seen.

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Not much is happening either.
I just read the first chapter of the first book yesterday (so, the first 10 subsections, roughly 20% of the first book). The preview of the manga covers most of that…
It seems like the editor did a great job on the pacing (at least, for what I have seen). Of course, the manga leaves out (so far) where the quests come from, a bit of world building and the like, but I don’t think it’s worse for it.

So, yeah, anyway, since we have a bit of time left before the vote, I’m probably going to read the first volume, assume that it covers the same content as the first manga and decide based on that if it would be an appropriate pick for the book club. (Especially based on @seanblue’s concerns with shonen manga).

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I think generally, in terms of usefulness, I found Toki wo kakeru shoujo much more useful than the manga we’ve read.
There’s much more interesting grammar patterns because it’s not just restricted (with a few exceptions of course) to direct speech. I also found that I enjoyed it more because it gives me a sense of literary Japanese (even if the version we’ve read is adapted).

So I think for me reading another novel rather than a manga would be much more interesting and useful.
Hope the vote is gonna go that way. Fingers crossed xD

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I know there was talk in the past of the possibility to split so we can always keep one active of both (book/manga)
Not sure it will happen or not, possibly cause so many of the mangas have already kept going after volume 1 so we technically have so many going at once already =P

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Yeah I know, there’s a lot… I stopped after the first volume every time to avoid that (and because I hate reading on a screen and don’t have the money to order that many manga and from japan to boot), but yeah, I think a split would be good. Though I don’t know how many people would actually end up reading novels, I feel like a good portion of the group is really hoping for a manga.

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I want to keep reading Aria. Although I’m committed to finishing 時をかける少女 as well, if I can’t keep up with Aria, I might not start something else.

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Yeah, I definitely think there’s an argument for it. It’s much easier to find popular and accessible manga which are easy enough for the club. 時をかける少女 feels very manageable as books go, but it’s certainly considerably harder than Yotsuba! A book takes longer as well (though 時をかける少女 isn’t wildly longer than, say, Aria), so for those who can’t join in they have to wait longer before they can participate again.

Personally I’m secretly rooting for a super easy manga to win next time because I feel it’s been a while since we had something on the easier side, and cos then I could take a break for a few weeks :grin: and catch up on Aria oh god

I feel like the club is geared more towards manga in general because it is supposed to be for beginners, but I think there’s a small but active number of people who are now keen to read more books. Whether that results in a split of this club or a resurrection of the intermediate club… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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I want to read more books *she say, even though she is far behind on 時をかける少女 XD *

If you want a super easy, vote for Chi’s Sweet Home :wink:
It is such a cute and funny manga too! =D

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yes, I am guilty as well. I’m going to have to decide whether to plough ahead with 時をかける少女 this weekend or read 2 chapters of Aria (last weekend’s & this weekend’s).

Maybe I’ll vote for that. (since I already have the manga but haven’t read them - and also it might give me some spare time to catch up).

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I kind of wish it would xD but we’ll see how it goes. I agree though, the length of books (and accessibility) is an issue :thinking:

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Ah, but I don’t want to read the easy pick - I want a total break (though helping readers out if I can) :stuck_out_tongue: I’ve watched the Chi’s Sweet Home anime for listening practice and it really is cute ^^ that would definitely be my pick of the easy manga if we were going to tackle one (although Belthazar’s Nordic Girl manga also looked very nice and clear - more text and longer sentences, but less nyaning :wink: ).

Yeah, I just need to like… take a day off work purely for reading Aria :sweat_smile:

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