The Intermediate Manga Club (IMC) // Reading now: ハクメイとミコチ // Reading next: 幸せのマチ

[Akashelia]

@Greya

I’ve never run a book club before, but I’m willing to give it a go!

Nice!

@Greya

From what I understand, leading the club basically just consists of posting threads for the manga and its individual chapters, right? So I guess I’ll just look at some of the IMC book club threads and copy them then.

Exactly! When the thread is up, you can also discuss the schedule. You can see more tips here, but I think you pretty much got it already

@Greya

When would I have to set up the main thread by? Would by Monday work? I’ll probably be able to finish it over the weekend.

That’s perfect! There’s no rush really, but early is nice, so the discussion can already start

[Belthazar]

@Greya

When would I have to set up the main thread by? Would by Monday work? I’ll probably be able to finish it over the weekend.

You’ve got plenty of time - your book won’t be starting until Hakumei and Mikochi finishes, so about four weeks away. Though, best to get it up at least a bit before the last second so people have a place to start congregating.

(On a side note, congrats! Yours is the thousandth post in this thread!)

[Akashelia]

Pinging @Greya, are you still willing to lead the club for 幸せのマチ?

[Greya]

@Akashelia

Pinging @Greya, are you still willing to lead the club for 幸せのマチ?

Yeah, I am! I decided to take a bit more time with putting the thread together, considering that the club doesn’t start as soon as I had initially thought. But here it is now:

幸せのマチ Home Thread (IMC) - Starting Jan 17th

Welcome to the 幸せのマチ Book Club! Start date: January 17th This is the main thread for reading the manga 幸せのマチ together with the Intermediate Manga Club. We’ll be reading together according to a weekly schedule, with weekly threads for asking and answering questions to make for an easier reading experience. If you have to start late or you are reading this after the club has finished, you are still very welcome to read and post! [image] View on Natively: 幸せのマチ | L24 Original …

I’m having a bit of trouble figuring out the schedule, though, so if anyone is planning on joining the 幸せのマチ club, please check out the options I’ve come up with and give me some feedback! And let me know whether you’d like a vocabulary sheet or not too.

[bellacarr]

天国大魔境

Natively: [Level 27](Natively Url)

Summary

Within the safety of the walls, youths are raised in a nursery-style setting by robots. While life there may appear stale on the surface, the children are full of potential and curiosity. In many ways it is like a slice of heaven. The outside world is a hell-scape. It is almost entirely void of anything mechanical and is now inhabited by bizarre, yet powerful super-natural beings.

Maru, with the aid of Kiruko, is out there crisscrossing what was once Tokyo for heaven. But after searching for so long, maybe heaven is more of an untenable dream than a potential reality.

美しい壁に囲まれた世界で暮らす子供たち。少年・トキオはある日、「外の外に行きたいですか？」というメッセージを受け取る。一方、外では、マルとおねえちゃんがサバイバル生活をしながら、天国を求めて、魔境となった世界を旅している。未来の日本を「あね散歩」。二つの世界を縦横無尽に行き来する、超才・石黒正数最新作、極大スケールでスタート!!

Availability

Insert purchase links for physical:

• AMAZON JP
• CD JAPAN

Insert purchase links for digital:

• Ebook Japan
• Book Walker
• AMAZON JP

Personal Opinion

I really love the non-linear complex story line, with complex characters that make you guess how the story is going to play out. I think it would really push my Japanese having such a complex story where you can’t fall back on context/guessing what things mean, but really need to understand what is being said. Mystery and sci-fi are my favourite genres and I love the way this is written! I hope that the very interesting story will keep me going to push myself through what I expect to be quite a challenging read

Pros and Cons

Pros

• The manga has been received positively, and was praised for its sense of mystery and the relationship between the characters from both scenarios presented at the same time. It has also won several accolades such as the Japan Expo Awards.
• An anime television series adaptation produced by Production I.G aired from April to June 2023.
• The manga is still ongoing, been serialized in Kodansha’s seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon since January 2018 and its chapters have been collected in 12 tankōbon volumes as of July 2025.

Cons

• CONTAINS SOME NSFW THEMES AND SCENES - In particular one fairly graphic SA scene in chapter 32/33 (volume 6)
• Apart from the graphic SA scene, I believe the other NSFW themes come across as part of the story and the larger themes discussed. There are discussions of gender and sex which I took to be part of what the author wanted to address in the manga, not for fanservice/for the sake of being graphic.
• Although I don’t think that the NSFW content is for the sake of fanservice or gore (I could just be naive), I understand if this makes it unsuitable for the IMC. If there are still people who would like to join, I would be happy to create a standalone book club for this manga

Pictures

First Three Pages of Chapter One

Additional Pages

[Belthazar]

@bellacarr

Children living in a world surrounded by beautiful walls. A boy Tokio one day, "Do you want to go outside? You will receive a message. On the other hand, Maru and Caught are traveling to the world where he sees heaven and became a magical border. The future of Japan will be a “beaning” walk.

Is, uh… is that Google Translate?

[Akashelia]

@bellacarr

scene in chapter 32/33 (volume 6)

I think we are safe for the IMC then we will only read the first volume together (if it gets picked), then the other volumes will be read as an offshoot if enough people want to read them, you can discuss that again then. At least from the free sample on Bookwalker, I couldn’t see anything inappropriate.

[TobiasW]

The worst part is the " that is just never closed

[bellacarr]

I didn’t think of that Thank you!