I am reading through the daily headlines on NHK Easy while I am working through Genki 1 
. It’s not anything groundbreaking, but I am actively applying the grammar points I am learning.
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OL x ヤンキーっぽい自転車屋の男. Most of the characters speak fairly こてこて Kansai Gifu-Aichi dialect, though the OL speaks 標準語 (standard). Found this thanks to @shitsurei mentioning the Jdrama version (which so far the first ep had decent acting, but I like the manga better). I’m trying not to binge it lol
Someone in a JP yuri discord recommended this. Seems like everyone speaks Kansai, but I’m only a few pages in. Same author as 百合オタに百合はご法度です! ? 1 | L24 . I hadn’t realized before, but U-temo is ゆうても (Kansai version of 言うても)
Started ラブ★コン 3 | L25 as well. Otherwise same as before
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I have a bad feeling I’m gonna binge the show and then want to binge the manga too 
Up to ep3 now and I only stopped watching more bc I want to get through some of my other to watch backlog.
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Is it still in “good acting for a J Drama” territory then?
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Yep! Definitely still good (for a jdrama). Maybe approaching unqualified good?
There were also a couple of shots that actually impressed me from a filmmaking perspective, but then I realized they were probably panels in the manga so then I was less impressed. 
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Well the first half of that happened.
The later episodes def suffered a bit from trying to hit a lot of the plot beats and only having 8 episodes to do it in, but otherwise I enjoyed it. I’ve got the manga on my check list and saved to my Mandarake cart, so if BW does a big coin back event before I make a Mandarake order I’ll get it from there, else I’ll get it used. 
And yes, I do know this is the reading thread but I’m talking about future reading reading so 
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(cross-post from the other thread)
朝が来る - finished
A good read, I liked the story even if was a wee bit cheesy at times (there are a few tearjerker moments)… however as I hinted at earlier, I wasn’t exactly a fan of the writing style. But of course this is purely a personal preference, YMMV
I’ll give it an 8, could have been 8.5-9 if I enjoyed the writing more 
summary, some thoughts, comments on reading
Asato is an adopted 6yo boy. The first half of the book covers the story of the adoptive couple, from Satoko the mother’s perspective. The second half switches to the perspective of the biological mother, Hikari.
It is not a “happy” novel, but does end on a hopeful note.
Having watched Naomi Kawase’s film (it retained the book’s title in Japanese, but they went with True Mothers in English, which is also appropriate) I knew what to expect, and I can say that the adaptation was faithful and did justice to the novel. Insofar as I remember (it’s been a year and a half) very very little was cut. The book even includes a short afterword from Kawase.
Those few tearjerking moments were even more touching in the novel compared to the film, but that was to be expected… especially when one reads very very slowly
One thing I found different, though: my own perception of the Hikari character. I sympathized with her via the film (and even Naomi Kawase says in the afterword that that was her impression too) but less so via the novel, as I didn’t take too kindly to her way of thinking and seeing the world. Those inner monologues of course couldn’t be included directly in the film, and having them in writing affected how I saw her. Again, YMMV
As for the writing and how it read:
Aside from the annoying constant になる-ing and 時-ing, one other thing that bothered me (slightly) was the repetition of certain events or bits of dialogue not long after they first occurred - not from a different perspective or with a different nuance, just straight-up revisiting - I get the reinforcing idea, but could have maaaybe been handled differently.
Otherwise… it was a bit of a weird one. Once I got used to the different style, I read most of it at about the same speed as the previous book (a little faster overall, actually) but it still felt more difficult throughout; just an impression, I guess? But then somewhere around the midway point it had an extended section that was surprisingly easy to go through (~25% faster reading 
)… and then suddenly it returned to being difficult all the way to the end? Oh, well…
And I’ve started the next one:
傲慢と善良 by the same Mizuki Tsujimura.
It’s looong and apparently even more difficult… this’ll be fun! (not)
At least there’s no new-author-shock 
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Actually it turns out this is set in Gifu, and they speak Gifu-Aichi dialect (岐阜・愛知方言 aka ギア方言). Anyway the story was great. I wanna continue sometime in the not far future
Finished 明日の世界で星は煌めく 3【電子書籍版限定特典SS付き】 | L28 finally. Found it mixed overall. I enjoyed the yuri moments well enough
Decided I’ll start 舞妓さんちのまかないさん 2 | L25 and 31% into 灰と幻想のグリムガル level.15 強くて儚きニューゲーム | L31 . Otherwise same as before
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Finished up the last volume of はなにあらし | L19 last night and I really enjoyed this series so much. Was a bit worried about the 織姫 and 彦星 mention during their planetarium visit, and that kinda was hanging like a sword of damocles over the next few volumes while they figured everything out with college, but I’m so glad things worked out in the end. After the first few volumes I thought it was just kinda cute but wasn’t sure if it was going to do much, but it really did pick up! It takes a lot for something to get me to want to like sit down and actually study, but this story succeeded in getting me to bust out the 新完全マスター books again 
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One of my favorite recent series 
I keep on considering a reread (and if I keep on getting my friends to read the English translation that’s coming out now I probably will need to bc they talk to me about it now ).
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Read the recent volume of chainsaw man in about 30 minutes. It was fun but uhhh 30 minutes.
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Wow, I live to be able to read a manga volume in 30 minutes.
Grab a picture book and you’ll have the same effect.
It’s such a nice series!! I’ve been on and off rereading it this year. Really loved the ending. There’s really not enough yuri about established couples
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Ex-yakuza house husband MC. He & (most?) others speak Kansai-ben. Seemingly people are trying to drag him back into things, while he just wants to do his domestic life stuff. Yakuza isn’t generally something in interested in, but I figured I’d give it a try
Rereading 自転車屋さんの高橋くん 1 | L25 with the Speed Run Book Club. Feel free to join, if interested
I’ve only read the prologue, but was initially a bit thrown off by the very 朗らかな cover & inner illustrations. Cuz iirc (from a year ago), Vol 7 ended on some Drama… Which the prologue did eventually reference (but otherwise followed its normal pattern). I really hope the author isn’t going to just gloss over it. Cuz I’ve been really looking forward to to that drama since like Book 4
Arrived earlier today. I grabbed it for ケロちゃん’s kansai-ben, but it will be nice to have finally read it. His speech is pretty こてこて 大阪弁 and of course a bit archaic (cuz 役割語 role speak). Overall besides a certain subplot, I’m looking forward to it. The handwriting is pretty hard for me though
Between the handwriting & the thick Kansai ben, I’m a little surprised it’s only L20.
That puts me up to:
- 9 manga
- 1 novel
- 3 light novels
- 3 text/reference books
Which would be pretty stressful, but they’re mostly “read a page or few a day, for the Kansai-ben”, and I just go with whichever ones I feel like on a given day. The point is to get Kansai immersion. Finishing anything is just a bonus
I probably won’t make any progress on 灰と幻想のグリムガル level.17 いつか戦いの日にさらばと告げよう | L31 until I finish クラにか 8. Cuz competing LNs will stress me out. クラにか 2 is a book club read, and very towards the end - so that’s not a huge deal
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I wrote up a nice post over in Natively recommending a few books I’ve read in 2025 and thought I’d post it here as well, for any who may be interested:
I finally started this series this year, and was surprised how great it was! Beautiful, smooth writing, a great combination of sci-fi/dystopia with themes and concepts from different literatures contemplated (with lots of quotes), an intriguing problem for the heroes to solve, and a great dynamic between the two leads, who have fundamentally opposing viewpoints but try to coexist all the same.
I’m a little surprised I don’t hear this book talked about more often; according to it’s Natively page, at time of writing there are 32 people who have finished the book, and I would normally consider that a sign of general community popularity. But after not really seeing much talk about it in the years I’ve hung around there and WK, I’m thinking the large numbers are more due to an early WK book club than anything else.
This series recently got a continuation from the author (something like 8, 10 years after the fact?); the original is complete, as far as I’m aware, so the new books should be proper sequels. Highly recommended for those interested by anything I’ve said above, especially as the book is quite short for a novel at 224 pages.
I have not finished this book yet, so it’s possible the second half just nosedives off a cliff, but I’m feeling pretty confident in recommending this so far. This is the current LN club pick, and I initially nominated it/wanted to read it on a bit of a whim (it’s my last bingo square needed, haha), but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by what I’ve found so far!
This is, so far, a fast-paced, fun, action-filled story following a young fairy doctor living in England as she’s pretty much all-but-kidnapped by a handsome young earl looking for an ancestral family fairy heirloom who needs her expertise. Along the way they’re chased by a second party, also apparently after that same heirloom (or some other nefarious purpose).
This is a pretty long series that, as far as I know, is complete, so those looking for a good longer fantasy series should give it a look.
And finally, a bonus book from me:
I hesitate to add this in as well, as it’s so far been an isekai with iyashikei elements, which I’m not sure the general popularity of among readers, but I was surprised how much I’ve come to like the series so far (working on volume 3), so I thought I’d give it a shout-out.
So I mentioned that this is isekai, but it’s not the typical kind you’re thinking of, with some loser some unfortunate soul in our world being flung into a new one. In this series, nobleman リゼル is one day suddenly transported from his own fantasy world to a new one. Confused but willing to roll with it, he decides that this is a perfect opportunity for a vacation of doing whatever he wants, and proceeds to: join the Adventurer’s Guild to take on random tasks he finds interesting, read books through the night and wake up at noon, and almost-but-not-quite flirt with most people he meets. Along the way he’s joined by stoic swordsman ジル acting as his bodyguard and (spoiler for volume 2) former (?) thief leader and snake beastman イレヴン acting as his gofer.
Thinking about it, I think what I’ve most enjoyed about the series so far is the banter and comradery among リゼル and his party members as they wander around and do whatever. Each has a very different dynamic going on, but they’re very much here to enjoy themselves, and it’s led to, for me, a chill read that nonetheless is capable of scratching a fantasy itch. (There’s also the plus of the author working on a secondary storyline in the background concerning リゼル’s original world, which has been exciting to read the couple of times it’s popped up so far.)
Thanks for reading!
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