The BookWalker Freebies Thread

[rodan]

As long as you’re aware it’s the manga adaptation not the light novel (which is here), I’m happy!

(I’ve got a physical edition of that same volume after confusing those when I meant to get the light novel some years ago…)

Speaking of manga adaptations of light novels, I happened to notice two different (this and this) 本好きの下克上 manga series appear to have a volume free for a few more days – hard for me to spot because the titles are so long… but I’ve sometimes suspected there’s people on this forum who like that novel series so perhaps these would be of interest to them or others.

[vonnutje]

I feel your pain… I bought 5 volumes of the manga from ひげをする instead of the LN Don’t want to have the series twice so the manga will have to do for now. Luckily reading manga is way easier for me right now, a novel would be near impossible xD

[VikingSchism]

Thanks for pointing out Vinland Saga - read at least the content of the first three volumes in English so should be nice to visit in Japanese (though I don’t think I’ll be ready for it for a good while). Also picked up Inuyashiki which I’ve heard about before and been interested in reading - skimming through the first chapter it looks like it might be doable (though I guess I’d need to see how it gets later on)

Also managed to find this interesting-looking sentai-themed manga, which is something I’ll have to give a go (can’t seem to find any info on it in English, and looks like it’s a fairly new series). Unfortunately that is only a limited sample so I’ll probably need to get the full volume when I get to it. Has furigana at least, so that makes looking things up much easier while my kanji-knowledge is still fairly low

[VEX7]

Hey, thanks everyone for keeping this thread fairly active! I would not have known about BookWalker otherwise, and it’s going to be nice to have a decent source of free Japanese literature to practice with.

[matthewsa]

Glad to see this thread active again. I hope @curiousjp is doing alright. I appreciated their posts and found lots (almost too much) to read.

[rodan]

I don’t actually know why (I don’t see a specific promotion), but the first volume of おとなになっても by 志村貴子, the author of 放浪息子 (Wandering Son) is free right now until July 11. This was on my wishlist and I know there’s plenty of other people on the forum who like Wandering Son (and I think one might even have recommended me this series…) so this was a nice one to see!

Also, there’s some free stuff related to the women’s manga magazine BE・LOVE (promotion page / free stuff page). Nothing I can personally vouch for, but they may catch your eye.

I’m happy to hear people are glad to see this thread still active! I know I would have found it very useful if I had noticed it when it was new, and putting books in people’s hands is always a nice feeling!

If you wanted a bunch of shojo-ish (?) manga specifically with people’s names in the titles, you’re in luck because that’s the theme of this set.

[rodan]

Happy 文月, here’s some free bookwalker stuff I noticed:

Some first volumes of a bunch of stuff here including Attack on Titan, Blue Period, Cells at Work, Saint Young Men, What Did You Eat Yesterday, Space Brothers, Heavenly Delusion, and a bunch of other stuff I’m probably not doing justice by not mentioning.

The first three volumes (out of a whopping 131 and counting) of venerable boxing manga はじめの一歩.
For a bit there I thought it also had timed freebies for a whole 60 volumes, but they seem to only be 40 page previews! What’s the point of that?

Any interest in an 80s wrestling comic, @fallynleaf ?

ベアゲルター was on my checklist but I don’t remember why. I think it just looked cool, and I don’t know anything else about it.

There’s some cool-looking shojo-ish stuff here too, just check the page count before you get too excited, as the 分冊版s are a little less generous when they’re free.

[sycamore]

Thanks so much for sharing this - I picked up the first two vols of Your Lie in april I now have enough free content from bookwalker that it could probably keep me going for a year…if I could stop getting distracted by other things!

[vonnutje]

Hajime no Ippo is really good if you are a little bit into sports manga ^^ read the first 1000+ chapter of it already, maybe it’s time to read some more (in english) soon…

[jordpuls]

Oh wow! I already grabbed lots of cool stuff thanks to your tips!

Just wanted to specially point out that in this freebies batch there’s also the first issue of Witch Hat Atelier, とんがり帽子のアトリエ, which seems very interesting!!

[rodan]

It’s definitely very interesting, and I recommend it heartily!

Watch out for a couple things though: it’s only a 50 page sample, and you’ve only got 'til July 15 to read it!

The freebies that look really exciting but have a catch or two can be frustratingly confusing (I was confused by the 60 はじめの一歩 volumes just the other day). Here the tip-offs are:

1. 【期間限定 試し読み増量版】 ~“limited time, extra large sample edition” in the title
2. It’s in a separate listing from the main series
3. Time limits here for how long the listing will be on sale and readable:
   
4. The approximate page count here (the full volume has 213 listed):
   

Which is all to say 50 pages of the first Witch Hat Atelier is still cool! If you don’t have a massive 積ん読 backlog like me the time limits are less limiting, and an extra sample for free isn’t anything to sneeze at!

I just remember the slight disappointment when I found the site being excited at the boundless full volumes for free on display before realizing it was at least a little more bounded than I realized

So hopefully the above tips can help make sure everyone knows what they’re getting!

[Kyasurin]

@jordpuls

Witch Hat Atelier, とんがり帽子のアトリエ , which seems very interesting!!

I’ve read the first 7 volumes of this. The artwork is just gorgeous.

[jordpuls]

Wow, thanks for the throughout explanation!

I’ll surely pay close attention to this from now on!

While I’d love to have the whole volume, this 50 page sample is perfect for me as I’m just starting to read native content (with レンタルおにいちゃん and しろくまカフェ) and I wanted to gauge how much I still need to learn to the point of being able to tackle とんがり帽子のアトリエ.

Thanks again @rodan !!
Also looking forward to reading it one day, @Kyasurin

[rodan]

There’s an interesting set here that seems to be themed around “men’s manga that even women can enjoy, women’s manga that even men can enjoy.” I think the only one that definitely jumps out as something I’ve heard of before is Parasyte, but I picked up a lot of interesting-looking stuff!

[vonnutje]

So much good stuff! Ballroom e youkoso, Runway de warratte and ‘sweat and soap’ are all really good!

I also saw Aku no Hana in the list. I love this one, but note it is really perverted in a psychological way xD

[Brave-foot]

Noragami and 前世カップリング !!
Thank you so much!

[fuzzytipsy]

Ooh, this looks like a really nice set of free volumes. On top of what others have mentioned, 昭和元禄落語心中 (Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu) is really good, but I think it will be a while before my Japanese reading ability is at a spot where I can read it in Japanese.

[rodan]

Disclaimer that I have absolutely no idea if it’s any good or not, but the relative rarity of full light novel volumes being free compared to manga makes me want to mention 現実主義勇者の王国再建記I is free now (also in manga form).

While I’m here, might as well mention a couple random manga not tied to a promotion I saw - one seems like it’s about vampire boys and one about fighter pilots

[morteASD]

Ohh, I’ve heard very good things about the world building in this one. Definitely a rare pick as a free novel. Thanks for the heads up!

[Chocobozell]

It (Realist Hero) was originally released free (unedited) on one of those sites where that is common, though I paid for the english translated version in physical format. They’re probably doing this as a promotional since the anime is supposed to start airing shortly.
As for quality, I really enjoyed it, but could see the anime adaptation trying to force some fan service in places where its sort of danced around in the novel. It is sort of a harem after all.