Intermediate Japanese Book Club // Now Reading: サイレント・ウィッチ

ブギーポップは笑わない

Summary

Japanese

君には夢があるかい? 残念ながら、ぼくにはそんなものはない。でもこの物語に出てくる少年少女達は、みんなそれなりに願いを持って、それが叶えられずウジウジしたり、あるいは完全に開き直って目標に突き進んだり、また自分の望みというのがなんなのかわからなかったり、叶うはずのない願いと知っていたり、その姿勢の無意識の前向きさで知らずに他人に勇気を与えたりしている。 これはバラバラな話だ。かなり不気味で、少し悲しい話だ。――え? ぼくかい? ぼくの名は"ブギーポップ"

English(taken from US amazon, not an actual translation of japanese summary)

Who am I? My name is Boogiepop…

There is an urban legend that children tell about a shinigami that can release people from the pain they are suffering. This “Angel of Death” has a name–Boogiepop. And the legends are true. Boogiepop is real. When a rash of disappearances involving female students breaks out at Shinyo Academy, the police and faculty assume they just have a bunch of runaways on their hands. Yet Nagi Kirima knows better. Something mysterious and foul is afoot. Is it Boogiepop or something even more sinister…?

Availability

Amazon
Bookwalker

Personal Opinion

I was interested in the anime adaption but never got around to watching it, so I figured I’d check out the actual book instead. After reading the sample pages, I thought they were at a level that may be appropriate for the book club, and the story seemed somewhat interesting, so that’s why I’m nominating it. It has both an anime adaption and a live-action film based on it, and it was supposedly a fairly big inspiration for at least a few other somewhat successful light novel series(If I recall correctly, Baccano and the Monogatari series would be two examples), so it also seems to be pretty well-liked.

Pros and Cons for the Book Club

Pros

  • Has pages, 296 of them
  • Nearly no furigana, at least judging by the sample pages
  • Seems to be a very influential and well-liked series

Cons

  • May be a bit long at 296 pages(according to amazon)
  • Nearly no furigana

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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