Intermediate Japanese Book Club // Now Reading: セーラー服と機関銃

Judging from a quick glance at the first few pages and a few random ones, it seems a bit harder than most of the book club nominations, but not much harder.(keep in mind that it’s possible I happened to look at particularly easy or hard pages though, so my assessment may not be 100% accurate).

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Isn’t that just an artifact from the fact it’s isekai? That kind of books use a completely different range of words than say slice of life.
I guess that doesn’t make it any easier at first, but you get used to those quite quickly I think.
Now, you have books that are both isekai and use hard vocab, like 図書館の魔女.

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I haven’t really read any isekai books, so I have absolutely no idea if it’s hard because it uses vocab I’m not used to or for other reasons or how hard it is compared to other isekai stuff, to be honest. All I can say is that it seems harder to me.

(If I do end up getting used to it quickly though, then that seems like it would be a good thing)

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Excited to see someone mention 図書館の魔女! How much have you read?

It is such a slog for me. Not only does the author use a bunch of unusual vocab, but his writing style is really hard for me to understand at times. I enjoy it a lot once I do decipher the text, though. :blush:

I’ve attempted reading it twice now, but haven’t gotten further than about 40 pages yet.

P.S. I think it’s more fantasy than isekai, unless there’s a bus accident that happens after page 40 that I don’t know about. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Ah, maybe I just don’t understand what isekai is. I thought it was basically the same as fantasy :thinking:
Yes, there’s a ton of made up words and a larger ton of real, but weird words. Fun for the whole family.
I read the first volume and it was indeed a slog. The story kinda picks up in the middle when you can feel there’s some politics drama going on, but then it stops. I haven’t any plan to read the rest 爾後イアムインデ.

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Generally it means the main character is transported from the real world (i.e. Japan) into a fantasy world, most commonly through reincarnation. This mainly started since light novel authors needed a way to have a boring relatable main character.

I think isekai would classify as a subgenre of fantasy.

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No, isekai requires that the protagonist be a person from (usually) modern-day Japan who has been somehow transported to a fantasy world.

Always a fantasy world though, for some reason. Never a sci-fi world. Or… a Spider-verse?

I’m a little bit over the whole genre, personally.

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Just gonna say After the Quake is great. Love Haruki Murakami. :heart:

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And another post!

I think I said in the poll I’ll lean towards Haruhi, but now I’m waffling pretty hard between the two. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up with both. orz

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I can relate. I really want to read Haruhi and probably will still prioritize it at first. But if it ends up being really hard or time consuming that could change.

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I am still waiting for my 神の子どもたちはみな踊る to arrive. I am really looking forward to it! :no_mouth::turtle:

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Me too, and I still have no idea what it’s about :joy:

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@Gyoshi @Belthazar
Oh hey! I didn’t know that!
I thought any fantasy story that describes a different world would be included. (So, probably most fantasy actually).
Thank you for the clarification.
I remember reading the spearwielder’s tale about 15 years ago, but that’s my only experience with the genre before I read SAO (and I don’t know if either count, considering the first one isn’t from a Japanese author and the second one not really set in a different world, but in a simulation).

Nah, you got it. SAO is the quintessential modern isekai. I think 90% of Isekai these days involve getting trapped in a video game.
sigh

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Eh, that sounds like it could get old really fast.

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I read one recently with an interesting twist - people playing an online game are all trapped in the game, but are then all transported back to the real world, but as their game characters, where they now live as holograms.

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Iseception
thanks, i hate it

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Nisekai
No, don’t give me that, you started it

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As much as ReZero is an amazing story, it is also incredibly difficult. I’ve tried reading lots of things, but I have yet to come across something as complicated as Re:Zero. Yet, I am reading it. But it feels more like deciphering a secret code rather than reading a story. It’s crazy how even tho it is that hard, I still enjoy it more than any Light Novel/Manga out there. Guess it goes to show just how good the story is.

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Haruhi volume 1 acquisition complete~

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