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I started reading 山田くんと田中課長, a collection of a bunch of shorts that Natsumizu-sensei drew over the years (2010-2015), some that it seems were included as extras in the tankoubon of other of her manga? about salaryman Yamada who arrives at work one day to find his boss Tanaka-kachou waiting on his desk—because he inexplicably has shrunk down to being 24 cm tall, or a little smaller than a Ken doll. And buchou-san has arbitrarily decided that Yamada will be taking care of him, of course. It’s pretty cute. Kachou-san is really cute, too.
Some tangentially related saltiness
Though since nothing really happens and all we really get are hints, apparently there are people who consider it “not BL,” which is a total double standard because if one of them were a woman, no one would question that they’re meant to be love interests. I guess that means Hyuuga and Riko (KnB) aren’t love interests, or Ryouma and Sakuno (TeniPuri), or any other sports manga protagonist with a girl who’s clearly meant to be his love interest! They never kiss or start going out or anything, so obviously they don’t romantically like each other. Clearly the implication that their relationship is heading or would/could head in that direction just isn’t enough!
Yeah, I read it scanlated a while back, or at least what little bit was available (and then immediately added it to my Amazon wishlist because this was after I started actually being able to somewhat read Japanese), and I saw people in the comments complaining that it wasn’t actually BL. On the one hand, I should really know better than to look at the comments, but on the other hand, the comments have been instrumental on more than one occasion in avoiding content I don’t wanna read, especially when the description is unclear, cut off, or straight-up nonexistent. On at least one occasion, I started reading without checking other people’s tags and comments only to find that it’s teenager x adult or some shit…
Anyway, I read the first three sections, which are all shorter ones. There are six (or I guess seven?), and together these three only make up a quarter of the volume!
I read 4 pages of 2.43, leaving off on pg 93.
My rambling got really long. Unsurprisingly. lol
Aoki!! He’s such a little shit lol I love him. looool and apparently, though they certainly know each other on sight, Ochi and Aoki didn’t actually know each other until now, because Ochi’s impression of him is that he seems rational yet gentle, and then he pulls this shit, and Ochi’s like, rational and gentle?? Where?! So I guess this is where his dislike starts lmao (He can be gentle though, just mostly only with Oda. Mostly. Honestly I feel like he cares about the team more than just for Oda’s sake the way he acts like it is, but not in a tsundere way or anything. God no, tsundere’s the absolute last thing he is. I dunno, I don’t think I can explain it well. And yet he’s pretty much all I’ve been writing lately lol Aoki’s actually starting to properly feel like my favorite character.)
Then again, Aoki didn’t play volleyball in middle school, and Seiin and Fukuhou never had a relationship despite being geographically close, so they never had joint training camps or practice matches or anything, so it makes sense that Ochi doesn’t know Aoki at all except as a player, I just never thought about it. But from the anime, Oda and Subaru did seem to at least sort of know each other (even if possibly only by reputation), so I’m looking forward to seeing how they see each other. Oda almost certainly looked up to Subaru in middle school, not just because everyone did, basically, but also because he was also a short player who’s playing left and is a successful spiker and ace (and of course now, despite being little taller than Oda in middle school, he’s one of the tallest players in the league. That’s gotta hurt), but I wonder if Subaru ever took any special notice of Oda. He took notice of Ochi, a rather average (and also short, probably around his own height in MS) but determined and capable player, when no one else did, but what about Oda, a player even shorter than him who’s just as determined but has less success in trying to overcome his setbacks? Did he root for him? Is some part of him excited at the possibility of getting to face him even as he’s annoyed at people (that cameraman with Fukurou TV) saying that, ooh, it’s not fun if Fukuhou just wins again now that they’ve got competition within Fukui, and even as he’s still determined as ever to finally get to that center court at HaruKou this year?
Anyway, all that, plus the info that Subaru and Ochi have gone to and from school together “an incalculable number of times” means I’m not disappointed that this scene goes pretty much exactly as in the anime and there’s no more Ochi-Aoki interaction here. Also I know Aoki shows up in next 4 years, so I can hope for more there. Even if it’ll probably take me four years to get to it.
In non-reading news, I watched 2 more eps of YoI. I met Minami-kun. I adore him. Same with Phichit.
Some vocab of note:
我関せず (われかんせず) [expression] no concern of mine; nothing to do with me
ボコる [他ラ五, slang] to beat the hell out of
茫然自失 (ぼうぜんじしつ) [四字熟語, noun, の-adj., する verb (自)] stupor; stupefaction; (being) dumbfounded
歯軋り (はぎしり) [noun, する verb (自)] grinding one’s teeth out of anger or vexation
便乗 (びんじょう) [noun, する verb (自)] taking advantage of (an opportunity); jumping on the bandwagon
July 11th 
hehe… r-right? D:
Look at this poor baby and his precious little mitten paws 
I started off with バディミッションBOND and lost my entire mind as always; I’m so far in at this point and yet I’m still meeting new characters and such and I don’t think that’s done either, wild. 
But yeah lots of angst with イアン who, surprise, isn’t actually the big bad (in retrospect I probably should have suspected this but alas) which raises even more questions; who’s the phantom huh?? But I finally met AAA for like two seconds and I love him immediately, I look forward to interacting with him more and probably getting my heart shattered 
)
Finishing big projects like that is always such an accomplishment. FF is one of those of those series that I’ve always wanted to try out more but just never got around to, but one day in Japanese maybe? 
new manga for the ever-growing list haha
Post
カリスタルハンータズ Book 2
Progress - [|||||50%]
Thoughts
ふだつきのキョーコちゃん Volume 3 (0% ➨ 40%)
怪獣のトカゲ Volume 1 (47% ➨ 68%)
くノ一ツバキの胸の内 Volume 2 (65% ➨ 81%)
July 12 
). I know I don’t have to hold strictly to these things, but if I’m gonna read with the club and I don’t have a particular reason to start early, I won’t.
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