I thought that I had understood the structure in each of the three stories so far and I expected the fourth to follow a similar path: after the main character describes his unsatisfactory job, some time later he happens to come to the library and meets Ms Komachi.
This story is a bit different from the preceding ones. Hiroya has no job to complain about, and he arrives at the library fairly early in the story. He has a longer conversation with Ms Komachi than his predecessors, as they both discuss their common field of interest.
Then he doesn’t get a list of books concerning the theme he asked for, but only one extra book, i.e. this one:
(this time the description in the text matches the picture, so it must be the correct edition)
(BTW Nozomi should definitely warn the first-time visitors before they go to see Ms Komachi. In all the chapters so far the narrator is afraid when they first see the librarian. Hiroya actually flees - and returns after being sent back by Nozomi.)
Yes, I liked that in this chapter the standard format of the previous chapters was changed a bit. We thought we knew what was coming but it was slightly different - especially only getting one book recommended! We were right of course in guessing that he would get the plane or the crab as a 付録!
Some words I liked from this chapter:
ずうずうしい - or in kanji form 図々しい (a good adjective for someone in a 図書室…?)
饒舌- talkativeness - literally “abundant tongue”
I’ve had the manga うる星やつら on my Book Walker checklist for a while, I can’t quite remember why. I think it caught my eye in a Spanish translation in a bookshop last year. Also 犬夜叉 by the same author (but I don’t think mentioned in our book) which caught my eye when I saw some plushies of its characters for sale. The enthusiasm about this author from this week’s reading encourages me to read one of these!
Thanks for all the links and explanations in the OP @2000kanji - very handy as ever!
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