#bookworminess

[melrosing]

not trying to call out the whole of Japan but every Japanese book I see on sale is like the cat who loved books. the literate cat. the cat who watched everyone enter and leave the bookshop and noticed little things about their lives

[dalennaugw]

Quick and dirty sketch now that mesmers are confirmed to be partnering with Aperture Science.

Portal gunning you away from your bad choices. Get healed idiot.

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

I do think any human/horrifying monster romance can be made even spicier if anytime the human has a thought like 'oh wow they could just bite my hand clean off couldn't they' they're just. VERY. Into it.

[sunshineszn]

Last member left of the GOM for the moodboard series is Kuroko and idk what kinda girl to pair him with 🧍🏾‍♀️

[transdimensional-void]

Japanese Language and World-building in Ascendance of a Bookworm

I decided to make this post because a conversation with @mesaprotector made me realize that readers experiencing Ascendance of a Bookworm in English (through Quof’s admittedly excellent translations) might not be aware of Kazuki-sensei’s extensive use of Japanese linguistic features in shaping the world and its characters.

Disclaimer: I don’t have any particular credentials that make me an expert in this area. All I can boast is good enough Japanese language skills to notice these features! But, if you’re interested in my explanation, read on...

About Japanese

Japanese is a language that allows people to easily express their relationship to others through their choice of words. This is likely rooted in Japan’s feudal past, when social roles were much more strictly defined and enforced. Some features that allow this are:

Masculine vs. Feminine Speech: Men and women can (and often still do) use completely different vocabulary as a form of gender expression.

Use of Different Titles: Most manga and anime fans are familiar with titles like -san and -sama used to refer to others politely. Not using a title for someone is also a way to express your perceived relationship to them.

Polite vs. Informal Speech: You use polite speech when speaking to people you perceive as being of a higher social ranking than you, or people you are not close enough to use informal speech with. There are varying levels of politeness. For example, “aru” is casual, “arimasu” is polite, and “gozaimasu” is ultra-super-polite.

Pronouns in Ascendance of a Bookworm

I (first person singular pronoun)

Commoner women, like Tuuli and Effa, use わた���(watashi, written in hiragana) to say I. Commoner men, like Gunther, use オレ(ore, written in katakana) to say I.

Noble women, like Florencia and Elvira, use わたくし(watakushi, written in hiragana) to say I. Noble men, like Damuel and Sylvester, use 私 (watashi, written in kanji) to say I.

There are some commoner women who exclusively use “watakushi,” like noble women do. Frieda does, and so do all of the gray shrine maidens in the temple. Similarly, the gray priests in the temple use “watashi” instead of “ore.”

Well-trained commoner men who are interacting with nobles (e.g. - Benno when he gets fancified) will switch to “watashi” as well.

Even after becoming a noble and referring to herself as “watakushi” when speaking, Myne still calls herself “watashi” in her inner monologue. This is not the case for other women who have been trained to use “watakushi” since birth, so it’s a sign that Myne's inner self is unchanged despite the new, noble veneer.

You (second person singular pronoun)

Commoner women almost never use any version of the pronoun “you.” Instead, they will call a person by their name, either with or without a title depending on their relationship to that person, or by a title only. Commoner men use おまえ(omae, written in hiragana) to say “you.”

Noble women also will usually refer to others by their name, though when they do use a pronoun, they use 貴方/貴女 (anata, either in masculine or feminine form depending on the gender of the person they are addressing, written in kanji). Noble men use 其方 (sonata, written in kanji) when speaking to people of equal or lower rank and 貴方/貴女 when speaking to those of a higher rank.

And then we have 君 (kimi, written in kanji), which I have only seen Ferdinand use, though I believe other men in the temple use it when referring to someone of a lower rank than they are (e.g., the former High Bishop Bezewanst uses it to refer to Myne in the anime, so I’m guessing he used it in the LN as well, though I have not read part 1 in Japanese). Ferdinand normally uses “anata” and “sonata” like any noble man--except when speaking to Rozemyne, who he calls “kimi.” It’s a regular reminder that their relationship began in the temple, not in noble society, and that he feels differently toward her than he does toward any other noble.

Titles in Ascendance of a Bookworm

No Title

This is used among commoners to indicate someone with whom the speaker has a close relationship. For example, Lutz just calls Myne “Myne” with no title attached. Among nobles, it is used when referring to someone of lower rank. For example, Sylvester calls Ferdinand just “Ferdinand” because he is his younger brother and a lower-ranking noble than Sylvester. Noble men will also use it to refer to those of equal rank, and retainers serving the same lord or lady use it regardless of rank to facilitate quick communication. 

-san (-さん）

This title only gets used within commoner society. It indicates distance in relationship between the two people interacting as well as a desire to speak politely. For example, Myne calls Benno “Benno-san” until she becomes a noble. Afterward, she drops the title to indicate that he is of a lower rank than she is, except when they are in the hidden room together and she reverts to her commoner speech patterns.

-sama (-様）

This title is used by commoners when speaking to nobles. It is also used by nobles. Noble men use it when referring to someone of a higher rank than they are. Noble women use it when referring to someone of higher or equal rank to themselves, including their husbands. For example, Cornelius calls Rozemyne “Rozemyne-sama” when he is on the job as her retainer, but when they are speaking as siblings, he just calls her “Rozemyne” because she is his younger sister and therefore lower in the family hierarchy. Rozemyne and Hannelore always refer to one another as “Rozemyne-sama” and “Hannelore-sama” despite their close friendship and equal rank. Eglantine refers to Anastasius as “Anastasius-sama” both before and after they are married.

Family Titles

These are used among both commoners and nobles, though they use different ones. Myne refers to Gunther as 父さん (tou-san, written in a combo of kanji and hiragana) and Effa as 母さん (kaa-san, written in a combo of kanji and hiragana). Lutz refers to them as Gunther-ojisan (Uncle Gunther) and Effa-obasan (Aunt Effa). Myne and Tuuli refer to one another with their names only, no family titles required, indicating that commoners are more relaxed about the hierarchy among siblings.

In noble society, different titles are used by men and women. Noble men use the following: 

Father = 父上 (chichi-ue, written in kanji) and Mother = 母上 (haha-ue, written in kanji)

Older Brother = 兄上 (ani-ue, written in kanji) and Older Sister = 姉上 (ane-ue, written in kanji)

Uncle = 叔父上 (oji-ue) and Aunt = 叔母上 (obaue) 

Grandfather = お祖父上 (ojii-ue, written in a combo of hiragana and kanji) and Grandmother = お祖母上 (obaa-ue, written in a combo of hiragana and katakana)

Noble women use:

Father = お父様 (otou-sama, combo of hiragana and kanji) and Mother = お母様 (okaa-sama, hiragana and kanji) 

Older Brother = お兄様 (onii-sama, hiragana and kanji) and Older Sister = お姉様 (onee-sama, hiragana and kanji)

Uncle = 叔父様 (oji-sama, kanji) and Aunt = 叔母様 (oba-sama, kanji) 

Grandfather = お祖父様 (ojii-sama, hiragana and kanji) and Grandmother = お祖母様 (obaa-sama, hiragana and kanji).

Myne also uses yet another set of family titles to refer to her adoptive family! Sylvester is 養父様 (tou-sama, literally “adoptive father-sama,” written in kanji) and Florencia is 養母様 (kaa-sama, literally “adoptive mother-sama,” written in kanji). She also often calls her older brothers by their names with nii-sama attached, such as Wilfried-nii-sama, as opposed to just by onii-sama. This is probably to distinguish among her multiple older brothers.

Other Titles

A variety of other titles get used in place of calling people by their name or pronouns, both in commoner and noble society. For example, Mark exclusively refers to Benno as 旦那様 (danna-sama, kanji), a title that Lutz begins calling Benno as well once he begins working for him. 

Myne refers to Ferdinand as 神官長 (shinkancho, “High Priest,” kanji) almost exclusively until she becomes a noble. Then she refers to him as Ferdinand-sama when they are outside the temple but still shinkancho when they are in the temple, up until he stops being the High Priest (;_;). She also usually drops the -sama when referring to him in her inner monologue, further indication that while she can walk the noble walk, she doesn’t really believe in the hierarchy.

Professors of the royal academy get called -sensei. Giebes, Aubs, and the Zent also get called by their titles sometimes in place of their names, sometimes in addition to their names. 

Formal vs. Informal Registers in AoAB

I’m not going to list every single word that is different between different registers here because that would be way too long. However, I’ll give some examples. 

Commoners generally speak in an informal register all the time, unless they have been trained to speak politely to people of higher-rank. They use contractions such as -って (-tte, written in hiragana) to mean “said,” and they also often drop the ends of sentences entirely. When they do use verbs, they use the simple dictionary form, e.g. - aru instead of arimasu. Male commoners will often use interjections such as “na” or “ze” or “zo,” which makes their speech sound manlier and rougher. They also tend to use “da” instead of “desu.”

Any commoner who has been trained to use polite language will tend to use the politest forms when speaking to nobles, e.g. - gozaimasu instead of arimasu.

Nobles in general will use politer forms of verbs except in very private, relaxed situations. For example, 参ります (mairimasu, kanji and hiragana) instead of 来る (kuru) or おっしゃる (ossharu, hiragana) instead of 言う (iu, kanji and hiragana).

Noble women have extremely restricted speech patterns. They always speak in the polite or politest registers. For example, a noble woman speaking to a social equal or inferior might use “arimasu,” but when speaking to a social superior, she will use “gozaimasu” or “irasshaimasu.” They also say えぇ(ee, hiragana) to say “yes” instead of the more familiar “hai.” Noble men will use あぁ (aa, hiragana) to say “yes.”

Noble men have a little more freedom in their forms of speech. Many will use informal masculine speech when speaking to social equals or inferiors while still using slightly different vocabulary choice. For example, Ferdinand often says 解せぬ (gesenu, kanji and hiragana) instead of 知らない (shiranai) to say “I don’t know.” They will switch to the polite (but not necessarily politest) forms when speaking to someone slightly above them in rank and reserve the politest forms for those very high above them. However, some men will choose to use polite language all the time, even when speaking to social inferiors.

This is especially notable in the speech patterns of Anastasius vs. Sigiswald. Anastasius chooses to use more stripped-down, rougher language when speaking to social inferiors, whereas Sigiswald still uses “anata” and -masu endings when speaking to social inferiors such as Adolphine and Rozemyne. It demonstrates a stark difference between the two princes’ personalities and how they wish to present themselves to the world.

Another notable use of informal vs. formal is when Myne is in a hidden room with someone who knows of her commoner past. She’ll revert to how she spoke as a commoner. My favorite instance of this is in Part 4 volume 8 when she and Ferdinand are in his hidden room just after she learned he is leaving. As she grows more and more emotional with her threats, she loses the ability to speak in noble speech patterns and starts speaking to him the same way she would Lutz or Tuuli (</3).

In Conclusion

I know this has been a very long post, but hopefully those who are as in love with Bookworm as I am will find it interesting and useful. Kazuki-sensei does a masterful job of exploiting the Japanese language’s unique features to make this world and its characters come alive, and it’s unfortunate that English lacks easy equivalents to allow us to appreciate these effects in translation. When reading the text in Japanese, as long as you know which characters are present and what situation they are in, you can almost always guess who is speaking just from their speech patterns. 

In the English version, Quof will often insert a character’s name to let us know, and also will sometimes add clues such as “spoke in a very stiff manner” to replace the linguistic features lost in translation. I encourage those reading in English to keep their eyes peeled for these little insertions.

My hope is that the above can serve as a window into this aspect of world-building for some English-speaking readers!

[batw1nggg]

Another headcanon!

Nagito often likes to read, and Hajime, probably with Izuru super brain, finds book plots predictable and pointless, since he can figure out the twist easily...

But Hajime will rest his head on Nagito's shoulder and half pay attention to the words on the page Ko is reading and Nagito with share his theories of what's going to happen abd Hajime doesn’t say anything because Nagito doesn't want spoilers

YAHHHH i love how so many postgame komahina fics incorporate komaedas bookworminess and hajime who knows the ending from the start but wont spoil … komaeda who gets so engrossed in whatever he’s reading that he doesnt notice his own hunger, so hajime handfeeds him strawberries while they cuddle and komaeda eats them mindlessly and it becomes routine….. hajime can calculate exactly when komaeda needs a snack based on when he last ate now that he has Izurubrain

hajime asks komaeda to read aloud to him one day (komaeda soothing voice) but he notices komaedas hungry and starts handfeeding him strawberries and komaeda mindlessly eats them without pausing his reading and its the only time youll ever catch him talking with his mouth full .. he’s well mannered but learns not to care around hajime and hajime finds it cute

[real-total-drama-takes]

I see notie and I do get the potential if I think abt it

BUT I raise you nodie (noah x sadie) with wingwoman katie who only wants the best for her BFFFL and genuinely tries to hype sadie up bc she keeps thinking noah-with his rbf, bookwormy, and idgaf attitude-won't like her or doesn't like her, and katie's not having any of that

(cue the chaos of katie setting sadie up in situations where she and noah have to interact and it turns into shenanigans which is silly bc in the end noah does like sadie from the start, he just wasn't aware of it initially and, when he was, he didn't show it bc he was So Confused by what was happening lmao)

.

[yourfaveisomegaverse]

welcome to YOUR FAVE IS IN THE OMEGAVERSE blog!

admin intros~

HEY EVERY !! IT'S ME!! EV3RY BUDDY 'S FAVORITE [[Number 1 Rated Alpha1997]] SPAMT [[Admin]] SPAMTON G. SPAMTON!! [[HE]]/[[HIM]]

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admin Wolf 🐺 here! he/him + it/its, in my early 20s, and mod Cow 🐮's mated pair🥰 pack alpha 😈/s and lover of dominant omega HCs!

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hiii!! im admin omega 🥺 !!!! i love roleplay and the omegaverse!!! im a girly girl so i use she/her pronounsss ^c^! im an adult and a self-identified omega… still looking for my forever alpha hehe >.<! people say im cute but i don't really see it, im just a shy bookwormy gal lol im not very pretty, seriously, dont you dare send me asks telling me how cute i am! 😡

anywaaaay thats basically it!! if you have any questionsss pls send me an ask >.< ok bye-bye!!! :3c

rest of the mods under the cut~~~

yo what's up i'm mod shroom 🍄 (he/him). i'm not an alpha beta or omega (i release spores) but i appreciate their lifestyles. i'm just here to get high and chill the fuuuuck out ✌️

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Hi. You can call me Theta 👔. I'm a 23 year old male. My favorite film is American Psycho. I also enjoy reading books and meditating. If you'd like to have an intellectual discussion, we can start one if you send me an 'ask' addressed to me.

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hi i’m mod cow 🐮 :) i’m 21 and my pronouns are he/they. i’m mated with my beloved mod wolf 🐺, my little schnookums. i guess you could say im the omega in the relationship 😂

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HEY FUCKASSES, NAMES MOD KARKAT ♋️ . I OBVIOUSLY USE HE/HIM PRONOUNS (Duuhhh) AND IVE BEEN A HOMESTUCKER SINCE LIKE 2012 SO DONT COME AT ME UNLESS YOURE PREPARED TO GO TOE TO TOE ABOUT HOMESTUCK LORE, OK? I ALSO SWEAR LOTS, SO GET FUCKING USED TO IT FUCKDICK

ANYWAYS THATS ALL FUCKBAGS, HOPE YOU HAVE A MISERABLE FUCKING DAY

PRAISE LORD HUSSIE

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Mod squirrel 🐿️ , she/her, Catholic, omegaverse scholar.

[orphanheirs]

Happy STS! Do any of your characters enjoys going to the library? Are there ones who love spending a rainy day reading, or any who'd rather be anywhere else than around books?

Hey thanks for the ask!! Just pretend I answered it on Saturday..

Tristan loves books and read voraciously when he was younger about anything and everything, including all the classics (and also "trash" like novels). His parents had a huge library in the house, so he had access to all of these things, with new books coming in all the time, rare antique books, and everything in between. Though nowadays he's got more important things to do. But because of how well-read he is, he's annoyingly knowledgable, and quotes literature all the time in a way that comes across as pretentious.

Tristan's definitely the most bookwormy member of the cast. That said, I don't know that any characters from the story would rather be anywhere else than around books, though that may change as I think about the other characters more.

[mintys-musings]

consider: lactation + femmugi + big boobs, AND dressing her in some cow lingerie -rei

guhhh femmugi femmugi once chance please.... she'd be so cute in cow lingerie.... brain mush- i think she'd be so happy to please too so she'd let you drink as much milk as she could give ! she'd sit there so pretty and flushed red waaaaaaaahhhhh the usually cute, milfy, bookwormy type in cow lingerie.... rei your mind is powerful...

( う ; ¬ ;)う mugi milk.... a need.... i bet she has like a few beauty marks on her boobs too. perfectly placed for kissing

[bittersweetburnedcaramel]

Fourth redesign of my buddies and, this one is just, Evil. like that's the main personality trait he has even in person

A complete lunatic, practices martial arts, going far in school but more for his persistence and responsibility, reads a lot of manga incluing berserk, but also some more bookwormy stuff like the art of war and etc

That post about one of my friends being pretty much fearless? That was about him

He's very sincere and has a good sense of humor when arround his pals, and he was never evil to me or any of our friends but he definitely has the potential to kill all of us :/

He would probably be an evil dictator or mad roboticist, and tbh I see no indication he will not grow to be one

[rooftops-are-for-towels]

one day i will be able to enunciate my thoughts on fanon designs for bookwormy socially inept characters being indian at least a few times

[1800duckhotline]

salices type really is bookwormy nerds because she used to be like dat. that's her during her university days. She just will never admit it. I do want to draw her properly because she used to shave her sideburns too and it's tragic I know but character development will ensue

[darkcloud-kcalifornia]

Okay, next reading project, next reading project… don’t wanna go on to the next Cosmere book just yet, and I think I’m gonna wait one more book before dipping back into Valdemar short stories. Um… well I heard good things about the Ascendance of a Bookworm light novels, but I can’t say I know much about it other than the basic premise of “nerd gets isekai’d to fantasy world, wants to be a librarian”. That and there was an anime adaptation that I didn’t watch. So what the heck. Let’s get bookwormy.

[conduitandconjurer]

Does Klaus like to read?

Yeah actually you know, it does seem like Klaus, despite his tendency to party, seek constant stimulation, and be hedonistic, actually enjoys a number of "quieter" hobbies, and I think that's part of what makes him endearing. We see him try knitting in season 1, and we also see him reading Viktor's autobiography in rehab.

I don't think the trouble for Klaus is enjoying hobbies like that, so much as it is him corralling his focus so that it's neither nonexistent or excessive. He so so so so SOOOO struggles with untreated ADHD and C-PTSD.

But I feel like he's developed ways to train himself to stay with a subject he genuinely finds intriguing, and it's then that he will curl up with a book for hours on end. Because honestly I'm one of those bookwormy academics, and even at that, I hate the false duality of "party hearty extrovert with no brain" versus "reserved and quiet introvert who's a scholar." Plus I'm not comfortable with the use of tropes that dumb down characters who are portrayed with Klaus's other qualities (and personal struggles).  Not that you have to be “smart” in the conventional sense to enjoy reading, but I also think Klaus is highly highly intelligent and it goes unrecognized because he both communicates and processes information in an unusual way. 

[ineachretelling]

Once again editing is hard and thus you're getting another chunk of my gigantic file of outtakes! This one's about half Broadway discussion, a quarter discussion of celebrities who have done various awful things, and a quarter bookwormy goodness.