Intermediate Japanese Book Club (Now Reading: 地球星人)

[NicoleRauch]

The Poll Has Spoken

and we have two very clear winners: ヨコハマ買い出し紀行 and 地球星人

We will start reading ヨコハマ買い出し紀行 on Oct 23rd.
If we go with a 4-week schedule for it, plus a 1-week break as usual, then we will start reading 地球星人 on Nov 27th.

@Naphthalene and @Phryne, I’ll hand this over to you

---

Another interesting outcome of this poll is the enormous amount of nominations that fell below the 20% mark. Besides the two winners, only three other books could get more than 20%.

That means we need to say goodbye to the following nominations:

• All You Need Is Kill
• もやしもん - Tales of Agriculture
• ブギーポップは笑わない
• ポーション頼みで生き延びます!

If it turns out to be unpopular in the next poll as well, we will then also need to say goodbye to ifの悲劇.

A few other books are on their first stint of being not so popular, and the next two polls will decide their fate.

Having said that, I think that the members of this reading club have changed quite a bit over the past year or so, and so it seems only natural that older proposals get out of fashion and new ones pop up. I’m looking forward to a new round of fresh and interesting nominations

[Phryne]

@NicoleRauch

@Naphthalene and @Phryne, I’ll hand this over to you

Here we go! We can figure out the schedule over there

地球星人 Book Club ・ In progress

Welcome to the 地球星人 Book Club! [916RrYiHoeS] This is part of the Intermediate Book Club. Where to purchase Digital: Amazon · Bookwalker · Kobo Physical: Amazon · CDJapan Schedule Week Start Date End Page End % End On Page Count Week 1 November 27th 16 4 恋人なのだった。 11 Week 2 December 4th 33 10 色に染まっていた。 17 Week 3 December 11th 47 14 End Chapter 1 14 Week 4 December 18th 68 21 教室を飛び出した。 21 Break December 25th Week 5 January 1st 87 27 見つめながら眠った。 19 Week 6 January 8th 1…

[kappaka]

I didn’t realise you guys also read manga so I will absolutely be joining for ヨコハマ which is one of my favourite manga series! Very much second the person who mentioned it will go down well with ARIA fans - definition of a comfort read, especially as we head into the colder months.

[Belthazar]

So, to clear one thing up about ヨコハマ, the nomination post says (of the Amazon link) " Note: link to the 新装版 edition; the original is out of print." - does this mean we’re reading the 新装版 edition? Because the 新装版 condensed the fourteen volumes of the original print down to just ten.

(Also, TIL there’s a novel too, subtitled 見て、歩き、よろこぶ者.)

[seanblue]

I have the first two volumes of the original 14 volume version, since that’s what was available for free a while back.

Also, it seems like the new version is just as out of print as the original version. So I imagine nearly everyone will be reading digitally.

[jhol]

Does anybody know of digital options besides Bookwalker? I’ve always used Bookwalker for manga but the last few I’ve bought have been really poor-quality, and the iOS app drives me crazy.

[rodan]

That question came up recently in the freebies thread and I found an article with many options indeed:

The BookWalker Freebies Thread

I’m not really the target of your question since I’ve really just used bookwalker (and I’d also be curious to hear from anybody who’s used multiple), but I do get the impression that the various ebook sites (and bookwalker is an ebook sales platform, larger than just manga) are largely similar and it’s just a matter of which you’re introduced to and develop a library on first. Once you start buying books on one site, it’s easy to want to keep buying them there, after all… so comparison shopping…

I’ve been experimenting with Booklive since and it seems just as accessible as Bookwalker and would be at least worth a shot if your main problem is the specific app.
Another option in that article I haven’t tried beyond very minor dabbling but that I’ve seen mentioned a couple of times around is コミックシーモア.
(Yokohama is on both of those, and I assume other platforms in the article too)

I’d be curious if the quality of the scan would differ though… I would have assumed that would be probably be a publisher thing but I guess come to think of it I have no real reason for thinking that.

[NicoleRauch]

@jhol613

the last few I’ve bought have been really poor-quality

I‘ve always thought this is a generational thing (of the manga), like e.g. Fruits Basket is pretty poor quality but it’s also quite old. Newer manga are of much better quality, e.g. Flying Witch. I always imagined this to be „scanned“ vs „digitally produced“ but this is just my speculation.

@jhol613

and the iOS app drives me crazy.

Not gonna lie, the app has its quirks (For me the pain points are mainly with dictionary lookups.) But especially for manga, well, it displays the pages but what else can it do anyways? Curious to hear what is driving you mad about it wrt manga…

[jhol]

Thank you! I’ll take a look at a few of these. It will be a bit sad to step away from the library I’ve already accumulated but I think it might be worth it.

@NicoleRauch

I‘ve always thought this is a generational thing (of the manga), like e.g. Fruits Basket is pretty poor quality but it’s also quite old. Newer manga are of much better quality, e.g. Flying Witch. I always imagined this to be „scanned“ vs „digitally produced“ but this is just my speculation.

日常 (2007) is really bad, to the point where I probably could have done better scanning with a phone app. 地縛少年花子くん (2015) is better but still bad enough that a lot of the furigana is illegible. I haven’t had much of a problem with others yet, but those titles represent two of the only five series I’ve read digitally. I suppose that supports your theory. It’s frustrating because as we’ve seen here older manga is harder to get physically and more likely to be low-quality digitally.

@NicoleRauch

Curious to hear what is driving you mad about it wrt manga…

I have all my manga downloaded to my device, but it won’t let me read offline. Also, even when I am connected, pages won’t load and I have to restart the app to get it working again. It’s also laggy.

[Naphthalene]

@Belthazar

So, to clear one thing up about ヨコハマ, the nomination post says (of the Amazon link) " Note: link to the 新装版 edition; the original is out of print." - does this mean we’re reading the 新装版 edition? Because the 新装版 condensed the fourteen volumes of the original print down to just ten.

I will depend on participants, I guess?
So far, everyone voted in the relevant thread that they have the original edition, so I would go with that.
Plus, schedule-wise, only 4 weeks (+1 week break) are accounted for until the next book from the club. Obviously, we can use the extra week to cover the remaining chapters (I think it’s only 2, but not sure).

NOTE: that link to the new edition doesn’t make any sense anymore, since the new edition ran out of stock since then and there’s no reprint planned right now. That makes me a bit sad

[Belthazar]

@Naphthalene

NOTE: that link to the new edition doesn’t make any sense anymore, since the new edition ran out of stock since then and there’s no reprint planned right now . That makes me a bit sad

Don’t worry, it’s only a matter of time before the Book Club Effect kicks in.

[jhol]

@NicoleRauch

@Shadowlauch

@Phryne if you could do us the honors of hosting the next vote!

I was actually hoping that you would run it though…? Because I think it’s important for us to broaden the base of people who are an active part of running the clubs. Currently we’re only a really small handful, and if any one of us drops out, that’s gonna hurt quite a bit…

But if you absolutely really would prefer @Phryne to run the poll then that’s of course fine with me as well

Saw this in the BBC thread, so wanted to put it out there that I’m willing to run the 地球星人 club. I was planning on writing discussion questions anyway since I’ve read it before in English, and I enjoyed running the コンビニ人間 repeat club last year.

Also happy to not put in the extra work and just enjoy being along for the ride. Your call @Phryne !

[Phryne]

I think that’s an excellent suggestion, especially since you were already going to contribute discussion questions. It makes it a lot easier if you make the threads as well, cause then you can post it all at the same time at your leisure.

I don’t mind helping out with a reading schedule, I’d just been holding off for the time being cause I’m waiting to see if the Kindle version might get priced down on Amazon

Could one of the regulars turn the 地球星人 home thread into a wiki?

[NicoleRauch]

@Phryne

Could one of the regulars turn the 地球星人 home thread into a wiki?

Unfortunately not, that can only be done by the author of the thread (if they are a regular).

But we can call @Mods to the rescue Could you please turn the OP of the following thread into a wiki? 地球星人 🌏 Book Club ・ Starting Nov 27th! Thanks

[RachelG]

@Phryne

Could one of the regulars turn the 地球星人 home thread into a wiki?

@NicoleRauch

But we can call @Mods to the rescue Could you please turn the OP of the following thread into a wiki? 地球星人 Book Club ・ Starting Nov 27th! Thanks

Done!

[NicoleRauch]

If you ever wondered what to read once you finished the club’s weekly assignment, wonder no more! The Beginner Book Club is currently voting and you could participate to fill this annoying gap with some nice manga that’s being read at a slow pace

[Shadowlauch]

Just Because!

Summary

Japanese

高校三年の冬。残りわずかとなった高校生活。このまま、なんとなく卒業していくのだと誰もが思っていた。突然、彼が帰ってくるまでは。中学の頃に一度は遠くの街へと引っ越した同級生。季節外れの転校生との再会は、「なんとなく」で終わろうとしていた彼らの気持ちに、小さなスタートの合図を響かせた――。2017年10～12月に放映となるテレビアニメの原作小説。湘南を舞台にした青春群像劇を、アニメのシリーズ構成・脚本を手掛けた鴨志田一が執筆。- Bookwalker

English

It is winter of their third year of high school, near the end of second semester, when students have very little time in high school left. Everyone is just waiting for graduation. Until Eita Izumi—their classmate in middle school who had moved far away—suddenly moves back home at a peculiar time. This reunites them, as if a go signal rang out to the feelings of the students who had just thought their high school life would end without fanfare. - Wikipedia

Availability

Amazon JP
Bookwalker

Personal Opinion

I watched the anime a while ago when it came out (2017) and recently discovered that the author who wrote the Bunny girl series also created the anime and the accompanying novel. I really enjoyed the Bunny girl series and since I was looking for a book that does not have a bazzillion sequels, I decided to give this a try. And I have to say it did not disappoint.

The meat of the story is centered around romance!

Pros and Cons for the Book Club

Pros

• Has an anime adaptation that might be a good extra ressource (they are almost identical)
• Easy to understand writing style
• On the longer side (233) but since there is a lot of dialog it never felt to dense
• A romance that does not have 200 sequels

Cons

• The author likes to use a lot of place names, that can be confusing (could be a pro if you are called @Belthazar)

Pictures

First Three Pages of Chapter One

Additional Pages

Bookwalker Preview

Difficulty Poll

How much effort would you need to read this book?

• No effort at all
• Minimal effort
• Moderate effort
• Significant effort
• So much effort my head might explode
• I don’t know

[NicoleRauch]

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to read a book with the Advanced Book Club?

Here is your chance of finding it out for real!
The Advanced Book Club is currently polling for their next pick, which will be read from January 1st, 2022.

Hop right on, and see you in the reading threads

[jhol]

Here’s a reminder that our next pick, 地球星人, starts in 1 week! I’ve read it in English and rank it among the best books I’ve ever read. I know of at least a few others who share this opinion, so I strongly recommend giving it a shot.

[Shadowlauch]

笑顔のたえない職場です。

Summary

新人少女漫画家の双見奈々先生は、年上の女性担当編集者の佐藤 楓さんやアシスタントの間 瑞希さんに支えられながら、時々本人曰く職業病の激しい妄想を拗らせながら、今日もお仕事中！ エンタメ業界を舞台にしたワーキングガールズコメディ、第1巻！ (Bookwalker)

Nana Futami, a rookie manga artist, is at work today with the support of her editor Kaede Sato and assistant Mizuki Hazama, sometimes suffering from what she calls her “occupational disease”! A working girls comedy set in the entertainment industry!

Availability

Physical: Amazon | CDJapan
Digital: Kindle | Bookwalker

Personal Opinion

I had so much fun reading this. It is a great comedy that got a lot of laughs out of me without being overly silly. I would say it is a bit on the more difficult side of things esepcially because of all the manga/industry terminology that needs to be build up, but I felt like the density did not overwhelm!

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Funny
• The volume can stand on its own
• Good density

Cons

• Manga industry terminology

Pictures

First Three Pages of Chapter One

Additional Pages

Bookwalker preview

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

I posted this nomination originally in the beginner book club but the results of the difficulty poll were very clearly indicating it being a bit to difficult.