#Monrabu

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Reading Log - January 2019

A summary of all the light novel volumes I read this month - along with my thoughts on them. I bought all of these volumes from BookWalker. Most of these series will not be available in English but I’ll try to point it out when I know if one of this series has received an official translation.

Note that, obviously, the following text is just my own opinion so please respect that and if you see anything that I got completely wrong (i.e. I accidentally refer to a character with incorrect pronouns), let me know. I will avoid posting spoilers as much as possible but let me know if I accidentally slip up.

Gamers! 1 by Sekina Aoi (Light Novel):

It was a fairly enjoyable read for the most part but, by the time I had reached the second half, I had lost interest and just wanted it to end. The chapters felt so long and dull and I think shorter chapters would have worked better. The other thing that stuck out to me is that the art is very simplistic and sometimes did not match the text for the scene it was for. I didn’t feel like the art added anything to the volume though I suppose it would have been jarring without it, given the genre of the story. That being said, I liked the characters a lot, including the protagonist and I enjoyed it enough that I’ll probably check out the second volume in the future though I’ll probably watch the anime beforehand to make sure that the story doesn’t go in a direction I don’t like.

Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata 1 by Fumiaki Maruto (Light Novel):

After finishing the Koisuru Metronome spin-off manga last month (which I loved, btw), I finally had motivation to read the light novel. It is really good. The pacing is excellent, there are a lot of funny moments and I love Maruto’s writing style. I do think that this series really needs to give the reader more insight on Katou. I get that part of the charm of the first volume is reliant on Tomoya having no interest in Katou but I want to know about her family and friends (because she must have some that she hung out with before meeting Tomoya) and I want to know what she’s like with them. I watched the anime alongside reading this and I think the events flow smoother in that and there is a lot of really interestingly directed parts (I love the café scene in episode 2) but it loses a bit of funny dialogue which is a shame. I have volume 2 already but I’ll probably wait a bit to read it so that I don’t get burnt out on the series.

Monku no Tsukeyou ga Nai Love Comedy 3 by Daisuke Suzuki (Light Novel):

In my mind, this series has two main charm points: the fun dialogue and the relationship between its’ two leads and it’s the latter that is on full display in this volume. Outside of that, it’s a pretty unremarkable yet enjoyable volume from a pretty unremarkable yet enjoyable series. I have to say that the side story that came with the volume on BookWalker is adorable though. As an aside, I recommend this series for people who are learning Japanese. It’s pretty easy since most of it is just dialogue and there aren’t many places that can trip you up.

Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shiteshimatta... 2 by Satoru Yamaguchi (light Novel):

This volume is just as entertaining and hilarious as the first but it also surprised me. While the first volume could’ve been described as ‘predictable yet fun’, this volume had quite a few events that I didn’t see coming and, more than that, it was interesting. When I got to the main chapter, I couldn’t stop reading. It was that good. Katarina continues to be an amazing protagonist and the rest of the characters are just as enjoyable. In particular, this volume introduces to new characters and I won’t talk much about the second because spoilers but I loved Maria and I ship her with Katarina so much. I will warn that this series suffers from originally being a web novel will little editing been done during the conversion to being a light novel series in that most of the chapters are  episodic so, when you get to the main chapter, it feels disconnected from the rest of the volume and is way longer than any of the other chapters.

J-Novel Club is currently releasing the volumes in English under the title of My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! so please pick it up if the series interests you.

Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shiteshimatta... 3 by Satoru Yamaguchi (light Novel):

Welp, I suppose it was about time that this series had a volume that I didn’t love. The first chapter was pretty good but there wasn’t a whole lot in the later chapters that I liked. The new characters introduced this volume were interesting enough but I’d have rather have spent time with the characters I already love. Plus, I would’ve been fine with this series ending in the previous volume though admittedly the series probably wouldn’t have been as popular if it had and I might not have read it in the first place. I’m not really a fan of romance series and I feel like this volume is trying to steer the series into becoming more of one and I hope that the following volumes bring back the things that make me enjoy this series and I love the cover for vol. 4 so I’m sure it will (Katarina, charging while Jeord and Sora are all ‘slow down, dumbass!’).

Thinking about, if Katarina ends up with anyone, I want it to be Maria. They definitely have the sweetest and cutest interactions but, if I’m being realistic because it almost impossible for this series to go the yuri route, I’d prefer Nicole over the other guys. He won me over in the first volume when he gave Katarina a necklace modelled after one that a character in a book had and he’s been consistently good since then. He really cares for Katarina and I think she’d be happiest with him. Keith and Alan are also good options but I don’t get the appeal of Jeord.

Monku no Tsukeyou ga Nai Love Comedy 4 by Daisuke Suzuki (light Novel):

Sekai doesn’t actually have a whole lot of scenes in this volume which made is boring since her relationship with Yuuki really is the stand-out of the series and Kurumi and Haruko are pretty dull. The last chapter was interesting though.

Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata 2 by Fumiaki Maruto (Light Novel):

This volume seemed to drag on longer than the first but I did really enjoy the climactic scenes with Utaha and I loved the short dialogue-only interaction between Katou and Eriri. There’s a lot that I want to say about this series but I’m waiting and hoping that the series will prove me wrong before I do so. For now, I’m just wanting for this series to show more interactions between the characters without Tomoya. I will say that I think the anime is slightly better than the light novel series so far. It has it’s problems, like it has a lot of times where a male gaze-y perspective is used and it’s unpleasant but I think it succeeds in the most important way: it makes me forget about Katou’s existence. It’s hard to make Katou forgettable in a dialouge-focused text-based series and the manga doesn’t even try to do it but the anime takes advantage of it’s format and successfully uses certain camera angles to make Katou less noticeable.

Monku no Tsukeyou ga Nai Love Comedy 5 by Daisuke Suzuki (light Novel)

Easily the most entertaining volume of the series so far, to the point where I wanted to immediately buy vol. 6 when I finished it (I didn’t because I like to wait for sales but the temptation was there). I can’t talk about this series a lot because the first volume has a twist that most readers won’t see coming so I don’t want to spoil it for them but I will say that I usually find the characters who aren’t Sekai or Yuuji to be boring but I actually liked them in this volume, probably because they interacted with Sekai while usually they just interact with Yuuji. I will also say that I think the structure of this series would have worked better in a eroge or galge. The structure actually reminds me of Asairo’s structure more than anything else and it kind of works in light novel format but it feels like it was meant for a route structure.

Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata 3 by Fumiaki Maruto (Light Novel):

My favorite thing about this volume is that Tomoya was never insulted or shamed for liking otome games. He also gets to cry a bit near the end of the volume and male protagonists showing emotions other than anger is always nice (note that the anime down-playes this and I’m super bitter about it. He hardly cries in the anime but in the light novel, he full on bawls to the point where he has trouble speaking) . Eriri got the bulk of development this time around and I think it was well done. I really liked the scene with her and Tomoya at the end. A new heroine, Izumi, is introduced in this volume and I think she has the potential to be an interesting character. She’s, unfortunately, used to generate boob physics in the anime and the manga (to be clear, the manga is much worse than the anime in this regard) and she’s a middle schooler so that’s… uncomfortable, to say the least. I hope she uses her earnings from Comiket to buy a decent bra... I didn’t care much for Iori in the volume but I thought he was hilarious in the anime adaptation and I kinda ship him with Tomoya tbh.

[rabuchan]

Makeup Tutorial: THE BREAKUP (by maneekaa)

An experimental "visual" makeup tutorial I filmed a couple months ago but only found it proper to make now.  My first time using a Mac AND Final Cut Pro X so I'm hoping to improve in video editing soon! 

Enjoy!!

monrabu.blogspot.com

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Monku no Tsukeyou ga Nai Love Comedy 6 + 7 + Overall series impressions

Author: Daisuke Suzuki

Illustrator: Heiki Abara

Label: Dash X Bunko

Release Date: 25 November 2016 (vol. 6) | 22 December 2017 (Vol. 7

Art Notes: Volume 6 only has 2 chapters and there aren’t many illustrations but the ones that are there make a big impact and are memorable. I also really like how the English title part of the logo changed for the volume from “Never Ending Story” to “Ending Story”. Volume 7 continues the series’ tradition of using illustrations mostly as chapter title cards which I really like and the logo changed again to “After Story”.

It has been... over a year since I read volume 5 but I finally finished this series. This was one of the first series that I talked about on this blog and I didn’t have a good impression on it at the time but I have become more fond of it over time so I’m happy to finish it.

Volume 6 was very interesting and I loved the way that it was written. It finished off the main story in a satisfying way. I don’t really have much more that I can say about it but I enjoyed it.

Volume 7 is a collection of side stories and after stories. It starts with 3 “Bonus Tracks” - what-if stories featuring the sub-heroines. Haruko, the brocon imouto, is first and it starts off feeling like wish-fulfilment with Yuuki rejecting the other heroines to marry his little sister... and then it’s revealed to be part of Haruko’s delusions and I laughed my ass off. I do not like Haruko but her story was really funny. Kurumi, the best friend character, is next and hers is very plain but probably enjoyable if you’re a fan of her. Ochiyo’s, the maid, is a bit better due to her fun narration but it still doesn’t really stand out much. Next is 2 after stories that take place when the characters are adults. In the first one, everyone gets drunk and the second one follows Sekai and Yuuki as they move in together. It’s cute and it’s probably my favorite story in the volume. Lastly, there is a chapter titled “Another Story” which is an extended epilouge to the series. Overall, not particularly good final volume and the only stories that really stuck out to me were Haruko’s story and the second after story. You definitely don’t need to read this volume to get a proper ending as volume 6 concludes the story just fine on it’s own.

As for the series as whole, it didn’t make much of an impression on me and I really didn’t like the sub-heroines but I did really like the main heroine and the story and writing style were pretty interesting, especially in vol. 6. It’s a fine series and I’m glad that I read it all the way through and I wouldn’t mind rereading it some day but it’s not going to become a personal favorite any time soon. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re into romcoms and it has a lot of furigana and the language is mostly simple so it’s a good read if you’re learning Japanese.

None of Suzuki’s other series really interest me so I likely won’t be reading anything else from the author.

[shazzeaslightnovels]

February 2020 Reading Log

No. of volumes reviewed: 21

Favorite volumes: Danmachi Familia Chronicle Episode Lyu & Genjuu Chousain 1

This month, I finished the Symphogear anime (I watched season 1 and G last month) and I ended up really liking it. Like, it’s so silly and over-the-top that it ends up being really fun once you can get over how silly it can get. I think that it is excellent on a lot of levels (like set-up and pay-off, power levels, characters, animation, music, yuri, etc.) but I have trouble recommending it because I really didn’t care for season 1 but some plot stuff in season 1 becomes really relevant in later seasons so it can’t really be skipped. Still, I’d recommend giving it a go if you just want to watch gorgeous action scenes and listen to some nice music and turn off your brain for a while.

The other thing that I experienced this month that I loved was an Australian book called Euphoria Kids by Alison Evans. I don’t really want to go into details about my feelings about it because I’m not really comfortable sharing that much information on my personal life on here but it meant a lot to me and I definitely recommend it to anyone who has experienced gender dysphoria. It has an odd story and I’m not sure if it’ll work for everyone like it did for me but I think it’s worth a read.

List of Reviews:

Danmachi Familia Chronicle Episode Lyu

Tasogareiro no Utatsukai 3

Mondaiji 6

Tensei Ojou to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei

Baccano! 1932 Drug & The Dominos

Sword Oratoria 8

Otaria 4

Magdala de Nemure 4

Majo no Tabitabi 4

Shin no Nakama 1

Mondaiji 7

Tasogareiro no Utatsukai 4

Monrabu 6 & 7 + overall series impressions

Baccano 2001 The Children of Bottle

Majo no Tabitabi 5

Mondaiji 8

Otaria 5

Hokago wa, Isekai Kissa de Coffe o 1

Genjuu Chousain 1

Tasogareiro no Utatsukai 5

Otaria 6

Next month, my top priority is catching up to new volumes that were released this month. I’ll likely start with Isekai Goumon Hime 9 before tackling Shoukei Shoujo no Virgin Road and Akuyaku Reijou? Iie, Gokuaku Reijou desu wa. I also have the 8th volume of Bakarina that I want to get done early in the month. And, of course, I plan to continue with Tasogareiro no Utatsukai and Hokago wa, Isekai Kissa de Coffee o and maybe even finish Mondaiji and Magdala (haven’t been talking about the last couple of volumes but I’m up to vol. 7).

And a new volume of Tsuki to Lyka to Nosferatu is coming out next month! It seems to be based on an audio-book spin-off story that was released last year and I’m very excited! I’d heard about the audio-book and was intrigued but didn’t think I’d be able to experience it myself due to various reasons so I’m very happy that it’s being released in bunko format. The Oregairu anthologies have such amazing author line-ups that I’m a bit tempted to get them, even though I have yet to read the light novels. Maybe I’ll pick them up after the final season of the anime airs and I don’t have to be as worried about spoilers. There aren’t any new series that interest me much.

[rabuchan]

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