I’m currently reading a Manga that I really like, and that I think would be a good fit for the Beginner Book Club. So here goes 
青の島とねこ1匹
Summary
The freshly graduated teacher Souta escapes the capital’s buzz and moves to a small island in the inland sea where he wants to start his first job. He is planning to live at his senpai’s place whom he knew from long ago, but when he gets to the place, he discovers that the senpai is not there, only his daughter and a cat. So he moves in to live with the two…
都会の喧騒から離れて草太が訪れたのは瀬戸内海の小さな島。大学時代の先輩をたより下宿生活をしようと考えるが、そこには、先輩はおらず、少女とねこと生活することに…。『ぱすてる』の小林俊彦が放つ、瀬戸内島女子高生×同居コミック!! 読み切り作品『セーラー服と監禁中。』を併録。
Availability
Personal Opinion
I’m halfway through the manga, and I really like it so far. It tells the story of life on the small island, as the teacher gradually discovers it, with the girl as his guide. This gives a nice feeling of summer chill-out
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
- Easy read, vocabulary- and kanji-wise (I found it easier to read than Girls’ Last Tour)
- Nice and easygoing story, quite funny sometimes
- Beautiful drawings, very realistic
Cons
- The islanders speak dialect (seems to be a mixture of Kansai and Hiroshima ben?) which is mainly expressed in different verb endings, not so much in different vocabulary. (Please have a look at the additional pages, where I captured some of it.)
EDIT: I just discovered that the manga itself only has 190 pages (there is a (totally unrelated) bonus manga added at the end).
Pictures
Additional Pages
The first appearance of dialect, where the teacher meets the girl (who uses dialect):
Beautiful drawings:
Heavy use of dialect (meeting the neighbours at a party):
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?
- No effort at all
- Minimal effort
- Just right
- Challenging
- Impossible, even with everyone’s help
- I don’t know (please click this if you’re not voting seriously)
0 voters