ascendance-bookworm

[ascendance-bookworm]

Hello! I'm sorry if someone's already asked this, but do you happen to know if the drama CDs for bookworm have been translated anywhere?

They have been by fans! You can find them on nyaa. If the link doesn't work do a search for Bookworm Drama CD.

The group has a discord. Not sure if it is active as it has been over a year since the last release, but credit where it is due!

[ascendance-bookworm]

Ascendance of a Bookworm Musical

Musical Ascendance of a Bookworm

本好きの下剋上 ～司書になるためには手段を選んでいられません～

The live-action stage musical at Tokyo and Osaka in Fall 2024.

Ascendance of a Bookworm Wiki

Ascendance of a Bookworm Musical Official Website

There were two versions, an A Team and B Team for the double roles for the kids in the play.

Adult Cast is the same for both versions.

Urano Motosu / Myne's inner voice (seiyuu): Yuka Iguchi

Gunther: Yuhi Tanaka, Effa: Yuka Ishibashi, Benno: Tōma Yano, Otto: Yusuke Anazawa

Bezewanst: Koichi Miura, Ferdinand: Kento Tsuji

Ensemble

Sora Fuji, Daiki Saitō, Dai Satō, Kento Tachibana, Chiaki Watanabe, Kana Sakurai, Sakura Nishio, Maisaki Ōkubo, Otowa Koyasu, Yuki Asano, Maho Takemura, Yuhei Iriuchijima

Children

Team A: Aoi Ikemura (Age 8) Matinée Show

Myne: Aoi Ikemura, Lutz: Ayumi Misaki, Tuuli: Sakura Mikami, Freida: Yurika Matsui

Ensemble (children): Otowa Koyasu, Yuki Asano, Mayuka Motoki, Hana Edamura

Team B: Akari Miura (Age 12) Soirée Show

Myne: Akari Miura, Lutz: Seiran Ina, Tuuli: Shimoriha Ikuta, Freida: Seizora Kusumi

Ensemble (children): Maho Takemura, Yuhei Iriuchijima, Kanano Isogawa, Mizuki Konishi

I finally watched both versions of the musical and I thought I would give a little mini-review of my thoughts on both performances. I downloaded the musicals from nyaa.si and I would recommend them to anyone interested, but take note that they clock in at about 3 hours and 15 minutes each, there are about 30 minutes before each play starts and a 15-20 minute intermission in the middle that are simple title markers (this was streamed online and I think that is where the copies were made), but still it is a long watch - and there are two of them! I do recommend both as the different performers brought something a little different to the roles and I think both teams did a great job.

The musical covers part one of the light novels, and the songs and voice overs are often used to speed thru the material and cover large segments of the story. There were no subtitles, but if you know the story it really isn't difficult to follow along, at least it wasn't for me. It was clearly made for kids and families, so the language is simple. I was actually pleased at how much of the story it covered, not all the characters get as much focus, but all the basics are covered pretty well.

This is typical of the anime to Japanese live-action musicals I've seen before, these are not big productions like a broadway show, they tend to stick to the story and try and adapt it pretty closely, but are definitely done on a budget ^_^

The play is structured with Ferdinand learning about Myne's life thru the mind-reading device as she (Adult Urano) tells him the story of her life as a commoner. I can't help but think that if this was the real Ferdinand, Urano choosing to tell her story thru song would be most annoying to him, lol

Yuka Iguchi, the voice actress for Myne in the anime, does the voice over work. I really like how they captured the various moments, and the voice over aspect really worked well, as so much of the time we are in Myne's head, so including it was a smart choice as her original self's feeling and thoughts are a major part of Urano/Myne's story. I also liked how they displayed the mana powers throughout the show.

Gunther and Effa were just as you would imagine, both well performed. I really liked Effa's voice, and Gunther fits the bold and brash Gunther to a tee.

Benno was fun, I think he was captured pretty well, his song is funny. Mark was appropriately Mark, I like how the actor committed to his closed eye look, lol. Otto was is his cheeky self, I missed Corrina though.

Gustav / Bezewanst is played by the same actor, and he really hammed it up, lol. I kinda like how they go all out on his less than scrupulous 'tastes' as the High Bishop, the actor clearly had fun with his dual roles and Ferdinand's frustration with him is funny.

Ferdinand was appropriately stern, didn't like the wig on him though, felt unflattering to the actor, I don't know the wig was a miss, maybe it was the hair behind the ears. The actor did fine, not much for Ferdinand to do in part one. He is basically used as a frame work to ask questions and receive exposition when needed. He has a few numbers at the end that were fine, but well he is Ferdinand, too subtle to be 'entertaining' at least in this part of the series.

The main difference between the two versions are of course the kid performers: Myne, Lutz, Tulli, and Frieda - everyone else is the same. I don't want to compare the kids too much, but I thought it I should give a few thoughts.

Team A was essentially the Matinée Show, or the one with the younger, less experienced kids. Team B was the Soirée Show, which would be the main show, all the kids in the Soirée show are lightly older and give more 'mature' performances. I feel both have their charms, the younger kids feel more like kids, and the older kids feel more seasoned and professional in their performances, definitely stronger, more confident singers all around too. If the quality of the singing is important to you, then you will prefer the Soirée for the singing.

The main character Myne is played by Aoi Ikemura (Team A, Age 8, perhaps 7 when it was filmed) and she is a real cutie! Honestly, she made for a perfect Myne in age and size, she is so tiny and yet full of gremlin energy that she captures Myne really well in her on stage performance. She did a really good job with the dramatic moments too, you could hear the emotion in her voice. I was really moved by her performance overall, she is obviously so happy to be there (on stage, probably her first lead performance) that it rubs off on you. She is very likable.

Aoi Ikemura feels more raw and natural in her performance, especially as a singer - she goes in and out of tune often, doesn't sound bad, but it is noticeable in that it sounds like a regular kid who hasn't mastered their singing voice. I don't mind her singing, but then again I don't mind a raw singer, especially if it fits the characterization, but if you prefer a more professional sound, Akari's voice is much stronger.

Akari Miura (Team B, Age 12) is also very good, she is a better, more consistent performer, and is the far better singer. She is older and it shows in her more seasoned performance overall. If they were to make a recording of this, her voice work and singing is already record quality. It feels like a CD worthy performance, imho. Honestly the only negative I can come up with is that she feels too old by comparison, but that is not really a knock on her or her performance, but just the reality of any child roles. I liked her performance, but I think I liked Aoi's Myne slightly better, simply because she fit my image of the role so perfectly (I also watched it first, so perhaps that's influenced me too). But hands down, Akari is the stronger performer, she never missed a note and is also likable in the role.

Of course Myne has to carry the entire show, there are few moments where she isn't on stage, but Lutz also plays a pretty big secondary role. Ayumi Misak (Team A) plays Lutz more like how I think of him, a kinda quiet, serious kid. Seira Ina (Team B) has a lot of charisma, the boy can't help letting his charming self shine through, he is a little too smilie, lol (Is that too harsh? he always has a smile on his face :) They both give good performances and handle the emotional parts well.

Tulli didn't get much to do, she didn't even get a solo song, or anything. She is mostly included in the group or family numbers. Both actresses are cute and perform their roles well.

Frieda gets a couple of song and scene highlights, I like the outfit they give her, and both actresses do a fine job.

Overall I really enjoyed watching the musical, even if it was a tad long, lol wish it was subtitled, but I know the story so well that I really didn't have any problems following along with the story. Will there be musicals for any of the other parts? I really can't see how they could pull off the other parts, part one is short and a simple and the easiest to adapt in this format.

It does make me wonder if we will ever get a live-action drama for AoB, would it work or would it eventually need too big a budget to pull off, at least for the later parts? Asking too much?

Anyone else watch these?

[ascendance-bookworm]

Idk if it’s just my immigrant heart bleeding but I swear I can feel my entire being shatter when I remember that Ferdinand didn’t just pick Rozemyne; the avatar goddess, the genius of the Royal Academy, daughter of the archduke’s, and high bishop.

He chose Myne. The soldiers daughter.

And not only her, but her family. That same soldier family, that might have been small and poor but were so warm. And he genuinely, whole heartedly, respects them. He was even jealous of Myne. He doesn’t see joining her family, as something he has to lower himself to. That’s his happy ending. Being part of this family, is what he wanted for so long.

[ascendance-bookworm]

This was originally going to be a more general post about how people have bad takes about Sylvester and Florencia, but it kinda got away from me because I started realizing that the Rozemyne/Wilfried engagement is probably the thing that's caused the most misunderstandings about him.

First of all, it was literally Ferdinand's idea originally. Seriously, look at the "Year One: Complete" chapter in p4v3. Such a simple detail, but it seems like a lot of people forget it.

Second, it did not happen because Sylvester favors Wilfried. In fact, Wilfried is basically just a means to an end in all of this. It happened because Sylvester prioritizes *Florencia*. Sylvester doesn't care if "commoner blood" or Ferdinand or whoever else becomes the next archduke. He cares about cementing Florencia's place as the mother of the next archduke. And on top of that, Sylvester was trying to grant Rozemyne's wish of staying in Ehrenfest. Mostly because obviously she benefits the duchy, but also he literally says that he still felt bad about tearing her away from her loving family and wants to at least grant her wish of staying near them.

Wilfried in particular benefiting from the engagement was just an extra little bonus in all of this. If Charlotte was a man, or Melchior was older, the engagement would've been with them instead. How do we know this? Because Sylvester and Florencia already gave up on the guaranteed Aub thing after the Ivory Tower incident, and if Charlotte or Melchior were an option then they'd be much more secure candidates than Wilfried (even completely disregarding skills and whatnot, Charlotte and Mechior not being criminals would give the Leisegang's much less leverage).

Which brings us to the final piece of this: "Sylvester is such a bad father! He didn't let Wilfried step down even though he wanted to!!" Let's remember the situation here: Wilfried picked quite literally the worst possible moment to start backing out, which Sylvester points out. Sylvester even said that he would've let Wilfried step down and take responsibility for Rozemyne himself, but Wilfried didn't change his mind until it was too late. Remember, he wasn't suffering silently wanting to step down the whole engagement: he changed his mind *after* his conversation with Ortwin, which was *after* the FVF purge.

Don't get me wrong, Sylvester has a lot to be criticized for, but this the way people try to erase the complexity of layers that Kazuki-sensei weaves into her characters is so maddening.

[ascendance-bookworm]

I have caught up to the prepubs once again-

This is definitely one of my favourite scenes so far!

(you might not be able to tell but I did make Ferdinand's ears slightly pink-)

>:D

BWahahaHAHA

I didn't colour it in because I was too impatient.

HEH

Part 5 Volume 9 Spoilers ahead-

My favourite thing about this is that prior to this ahem. Declaration. Rozemyne has tried to convince Hannelore she is not in love with Ferdinand, even if he is 'the ideal political partner,' (yes, she did actually say that-) then had a conversation with the man himself about how to prevent their theoretical marriage from being forced on him,

And then she goes and says this-

*cackles maniacally-

[ascendance-bookworm]

Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 1 Volume 1 By: Miya Kazuki, You Shiina - illustrator Narrated by: Reba Buhr Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins Unabridged Audiobook Release date: 02-14-24 Language: English Publisher: J-Novel Club, JNC Audio

Genre Audiobook, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Shoujo, Slice of Life

Summary

A certain college girl who’s loved books ever since she was a little girl dies in an accident and is reborn in another world she knows nothing about. She is now Myne, the sickly five-year-old daughter of a poor soldier. To make things worse, the world she’s been reborn in has a very low literacy rate and books mostly don’t exist. She’d have to pay an enormous amount of money to buy one.

** so excited, been waiting for this forever!! I really like the reader so far, so happy ^_^

[ascendance-bookworm]

are you a light novel reader, prepub reader, or webnovel reader, etc etc all the other versions of this masterpiece

Well I read the light novels and the mangas (I am hoping for a proper english audiobooks too, I use a text-to-speech reader to listen to them) and I'm also a prepub reader on j-novel club... I have looked at the japanese webnovel and read a few future chapters, but I didn't want too many spoilers so I didn't read too many of them... so I know a few key details that were kinda 'spoiled' for me (fanfictions, had to stop reading them) and I looked into to confirm if they were true, but I'm mostly with the current English translations.

[ascendance-bookworm]

Season 4 for Bookworm confirmed!

I'm so excited. Part 3 is probably my favorite part, and one of my favorite studios is animating it. I'm glad another studio is taking the reins as things are going to get more action packed from here on, not to mention We are finally going to be experiencing the fantasy part of this fantasy world as we finally get to leave the City and explore the rest duchy. We got a taste of that in part 2, but now we're going to actually get to know the duchy Rozemyne lives in.

This is also going to be a big shift for the anime-onlys their reaction to previous plot points and spoilers about the later 3 parts of aob have me worried for thier reaction as Part 3 turns the story into more of a political drama. Rozemyne is now an Archduke Candidate and one of the highest ranked people in Ehrenfest period, and now she has to learn to navigate not only this new culture that she's been thrown into but also learn how to appropriately wield her power and she will sadly make mistakes that are going to cause more trouble than good for those now ranked below her. I'm worried how some will take these moments, as I know many of Myne's captlitalistic tendencies were criticized in the past. I have hope that they'll power through this change, especially as we sadly leave downtown and those characters.

This is also going to be the deconstruction of Ferdinand that is going to continue all the way through to part 4. Now that they are essentially equals in the eyes of society, their relationship is going to evolve accordingly. I'm excited to finally see Ferdinand's bad habits animated🥰

All of my favorite LN moments are in part 3, so don't be surprised if I never stop talking about the anime when it comes out!

[ascendance-bookworm]

>Ascendance of a Bookworm is getting more seasons

oh hell yes

>It's being produced by studio WIT

oh hell yes

[ascendance-bookworm]

[ascendance-bookworm]

[ascendance-bookworm]

Book Pillow

[ascendance-bookworm]

Created this with the image of a scarf that would be used by the aristocrats of Alexandria.

[ascendance-bookworm]

[ascendance-bookworm]

Yu Shiina Art Book LiberStella ~The Ascendance of the Bookworm & Other Works~ [link]

https://tobooks-shop--pro-jp.translate.goog/?pid=177116947&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Debut 25th anniversary! Contains illustrations from the past 10 years in two volumes! An overwhelmingly voluminous art book with over 300 pages! 

TO Books Online Store Limited Edition comes with a luxurious special box that can store two books in one! Comes with a newly drawn illustration card! 

[1] “The Ascendance of a Bookworm” Completely covered with color illustrations! In addition to the illustrations included in the original novel "Part 1: Soldier's Daughter" to "Part 5: Incarnation of the Goddess" published in 2015, there are many color illustrations from junior paperbacks, drama CDs, anime-related items, and various bonuses. Complete coverage! 

[2] A wide variety of ``Other Works'' A collection of works from the 25th anniversary of her debut since ``Yu Shiina Art Collection Garnet'' (ASCII Media Works) published in 2012!

In addition to representative works such as ``Sakurada Reset'' (Yutaka Kono / KADOKAWA), it includes illustrations from Junior Bunko and many other novels. You can also see illustrations from a wide range of activities, including the original manga ``Monochrome Myst'', ``On the Wind of Carlitas'', and the game ``Diffusion Million Arthur''.

[3] Newly drawn covers for two books! Yu Shiina's own illustrated explanation included!

Newly drawn covers for each book, “The Ascendance of Bookworms” and “Other Works”! At the end of each book, Yu Shiina comments on the included illustrations.

[ascendance-bookworm]

I just wanted to inform you that the new Part 5 Volume 12 cover was shown, it's similar to Part 1 Volume 1 and some goods have been posted too (like an illust of the outfits from the Engagement ceremony and Drama CD 10 cover) I think you should post them. They were posted like yesterday, so no rush.

Thanks for the links!

As, these are kinda spoilers... I posted the pervious cover and someone commented about spoilers... so

Ah, Rozemyne overlooking her new city / providence from her new dream library I assume. This is the most content and serene I think she has ever looked, she has earned her dream life!

I really love this drama CD cover! Kamil really does look like young Myne (maybe it is the side part). Everyone is so grown up now, Bookworm spans 10 years, it is hard to believe we started with a 5 year old Myne and Lutz and 6 year old Tuli.

It feels bittersweet to see all of these images... am I greedy for wanting the story to continue... I just love all these characters and don't mind reading about them even after all the 'excitement' has ended... I would love a 10 years later special novel at the very least!!

Rosemyne and Ferdinand's engagement ceremony... all that is missing is Elvira crying in the crowd, lol

I have loved all the art by You Shiina, she has a prefect art style for Bookworm, soft and cute, lots of beautiful attention to details and colors.

[ascendance-bookworm]

Ascendance of a Bookworm

Japanese Doujinshi Covers