Welcome to the Intermediate Manga Club!
Reading now: ぼっち・ざ・ろっく! 1 (Nov 16th)
Save the date(s):
January 3rd: poll for next book starts
January 10th: next book is announced
February? (depends on the current pick) next book starts
In this club we choose a Japanese manga together and read it following a weekly schedule. We help each other with grammar, compile a vocabulary sheet together and discuss the story.
As Wanikani community currently is:
- the ABBC reads mostly manga / books in the levels 20 or below (N5/N4)
- the BBC reads mostly manga in the levels 20 to 27 (N4/N3)
- the IBC reads mostly books in the levels 27 to 30+ (N3/N2)
- the ABC reads mostly books in the levels 30+, or IBC books but faster (N2/N1)
(this is according to the Natively levels)
So this Book Club is for the manga that are level 27+, too hard for the BBC, but will (probably) never be picked by the other clubs.
Our picks vary in difficulty. If you are already reading with the Beginner Book Club, maybe you can handle this. The best way to judge is to look at the sample pages for a particular pick. Remember that it will be easier with everyone’s help though!
If you’re interested, just grab a copy of the upcoming book (we vote ~6 weeks before finishing the current pick) and join in! You are always welcome to ask new questions in the threads of any of our previous picks as well 
Proposed Books
Feel free to nominate something you’d like to read using the template below! Suggestions must be appropriate though; please read the guidelines.
There will be a specific call for nomination shortly before the vote for the next book happen, but you can nominate anytime.
Guidelines for Proposing Books
-
Nominate something you are ready to read
We want to maintain lively discussion throughout the club, so don’t nominate something you yourself will struggle to participate in. You also can’t rely on there being more advanced learners available to help with all questions. -
The Book needs to be a manga of Intermediate / Advanced level
That would be a book rated roughly more than 26/27 on Natively. Other book clubs can cover the other books. -
Do not nominate anything clearly NSFW
We try to maintain a wide appeal, so don’t knowingly nominate anything associated with fanservice or gore. -
Do not nominate anything difficult to procure
Picks must be readily available at online stores. If no eBook version is available please consider whether it’s still worth nominating and list this clearly as a “con”. -
Well-known works are more desirable
Guidance only: the reader pool will be much larger for well-known works, and background knowledge of the premise will make it easier for people to understand the content and help each other out. -
Books that fail to score at least 15% on the last three round of voting will get automatically removed.
This approach ensures that the list remains reasonably small and dynamic.
You may nominate a removed book again, but please think about it before hand. Do you think there’s reasonable interest for that nomination?
Proposal Template
Copy this template into a new post when making a nomination.
For page samples, you can either take photos of your own copy (try to make the three additional pages ‘representative’ if possible), grab photos from the internet, or use eBook previews from e.g. Amazon, Kobo, BookWalker. Make sure the text is legible!
# Insert Title Here
Natively: [Level ??](Natively Url)
(cover pic here)
## Summary
Insert summary here, taken from wherever - Wikipedia, Amazon, etc. Improve the description if you would like / feel it necessary.## Availability
Insert purchase links for physical: preferably Amazon JP and CD Japan.
Insert purchase links for digital: preferably Kindle, Kobo and BookWalker. Mention if an eBook is not available at all and list this in the cons.## Personal Opinion
Insert why you think this book would be good to read, personally and for the book club.### Pros and Cons
**Pros**
* Insert pros here.**Cons**
* Insert cons here.## Pictures
[details=“First Three Pages of Chapter One”]
Insert images here (can be photos from you or from eBook previews).
[/details]
[details=“Additional Pages”]
Insert a few more representative images here.
[/details]
List of Removed Nominations
| Book | Reason |
|---|---|
| かぐや様は告らせたい〜天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦～ | Polling results |
| 理系が恋に落ちたので証明してみた | Polling results |
Current Proposals
See the linked nomination posts for more information, including sample pages. Also browsable on Natively
The difficulty scores come from Natively, where they are ranked by other language learners.
19/20, 1 spot available, you can nominate anytime!
1. クプルムの花嫁
2. NANA―ナナ―
3. ３月のライオン
4. ミステリと言う勿れ
5. CITY
6. ご注文はうさぎですか? / Is the Order a Rabbit?
7.幸せのマチ
8. 蟲師 / Mushishi
9. ふしぎの国のバード / UNBEATEN TRACKS in JAPAN
10. 棺担ぎのクロ。~懐中旅話~
11. ふたつのスピカ
12. ハクメイとミコチ / Hakumei & Mikochi: Tiny Little Life in the Woods
13. ちびまる子ちゃん
14. 日本の歴史 1 日本のはじまり 旧石器~縄文・弥生~古墳時代
15. 銀の匙 / Silver Spoon
16. 海月姫 / Princess Jellyfish
17. 魔入りました!入間くん
18. 頭文字D
19. きみのせかいに恋はない
Previous Picks
Also browsable as a list on Natively
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 01 | とんがり帽子のアトリエ 1*** |
| 02 | 紡ぐ乙女と大正の月 1 |
| 03 | 鋼の錬金術師 1*** |
| 04 | ダンジャン飯 1*** |
| 05 | ぼっち・ざ・ろっく！ 1 |
*** currently continuing as an offshoot club
+++ continued as an offshoot club, currently in hiatus
ooo entire series completed as an offshoot club
We always read just the first volume of a series (sometimes we read a ‘Master’ edition which incorporates the first two volumes of an original run). Sometimes, if a particular pick was enjoyed by many people who want to continue reading it together, that pick will continue to run as a parallel offshoot, reading the subsequent volumes.
Where to Purchase Books
This section explains where to buy Japanese books in general; see the nominations above for links to purchase specific books.
Purchasing Japanese Books
Physical books:
Note that you need a separate account for each ‘instance’ of Amazon, so you won’t be able to use Amazon JP with e.g. your French Amazon account. Amazon adds an estimated customs charge to your bill which will be refunded if you don’t have to pay customs (or pay less).
CDJapan has economy shipping options which take longer to arrive but cost less.
If you can’t find an online store that will ship to you, you can use a forwarding service like Tenso or White Rabbit Express. If you live in the right place, you may also be able to find the book at a local Japanese book store such as Kinokuniya; just Google your area.
eBooks:
Sirvorn has a wonderful guide to purchasing eBooks from Amazon JP.
Historic Polls
Next Book Polls
Winner links go to the original nominations.
- Book Poll 1 - Winner: とんがり帽子のアトリエ 1
- Book Poll 2 - Winners: 紡ぐ乙女と大正の月 1 and 鋼の錬金術師 1
- Book Poll 3 - Winner: ダンジャン飯 1
- Book Poll 4 - Winner: ぼっち・ざ・ろっく！ 1
Other Polls
- Poll for start date of the first book and pace
- Result: April 20th, 30 pages / week
- Poll for 2nd and 3rd pick, in which order do we read them
- Result: 紡ぐ乙女と大正の月 first, then 鋼の錬金術師
Interesting nominations so far!
MOIBC