Dagashi-ya Yahagi: Setting Up a Sweets Shop in Another World: Volume 1 - Nothing special and very predictable but it was an enjoyable read. The characters are a bit daft though. Like “Clark Kent is unrecognizable because of glasses”-daft.
Dagashi-ya Yahagi: Setting Up a Sweets Shop in Another World: Volume 2 - I jumped right into the second volume but it fell off really hard. The characters were on the slow side in the first volume but here they have become completely incapable of the most basic pattern recognition. I still had fun reading the first volume looking past the weak parts, but here it’s too painful just to let it slide. There are also elements introduced that are hard to overlook. For example, MC gets a clairvoyance skill with which he can freely look at whatever he wants just by concentrating on it. Some character that has a deep-seated grudge against his spouse escapes prison and MC doesn’t even ponder if maybe he should use his skill to find out where that person is hiding. The other weaknesses are also starting to show. For example how every time his skill produces a new item, 2 sentences later there will be a problem that requires exactly this item. Man, just plant some items ahead and reintroduce them later. Don’t just write from chapter to chapter… On the pro side, the setup for the next volume is a frontier/village-raising project which is something I generally greatly enjoy.
Zilbagias the Demon Prince: How the Seventh Prince Brought Down the Kingdom Volume 3 - This is still such a strange premise for a novel. Make the MC want to kill everyone around him but then make those people around him mostly likable. then throw in some lore tidbits here and there that show that MC’s quest is more than warranted. But that doesn’t change the fact that the reader is growing fond of the characters. I have absolutely no idea how the author is planning to resolve this. It’s a delicate balancing act but so far the author is pulling it off, so I’m intrigued.
Survival in Another World with My Mistress! Vol. 7 - Yeah, this is by now completely mask off. It isn’t even trying anymore to look like there was an isekai plot hidden somewhere in there. It’s just harem sex scene after harem sex scene. I don’t consider myself a prude and enjoy fan service as much as the next man, but if there really isn’t anything else anymore I don’t think it’s worth reading.
Management of a Novice Alchemist: Volume 1 - The rare series I’ve seen as an anime before reading the LN. To be honest, the anime was so forgettable that I was fighting with déjà vu while reading the LN before realizing that I’d seen it as an anime before. And the LN is more of the same. It’s inoffensive and ultimately just as forgettable, but that’s not a bad thing if you’re in the mood for something like that.
Zilbagias
I have been keeping up with the manga chapters that get posted to Mangadex and I feel similarly. It’s such a weird setup that I can’t say it is all working, but I am willing to keep reading to see where it goes. One thing I have been a bit disappointed by as the chapters have gone on (you are likely ahead of me), is that the whole idea of “taboo” seems to be so open-ended that it is not really clear what is or isn’t considered taboo. Like, as long as there can be some flimsy rationalization, then it can count. I don’t know if this gets better or not, but I thought that aspect was really interesting and has so far been under or poorly utilized.
Yeah, there are some rationalizations given that barely stand muster, but in the worst cases, it feels like Ante is giving them to MC just to help him cope. “Yes, you had to do something terrible to the people you want to save, but in a way [enter convoluted explanation here] this helps you get stronger and brings you closer to your end goal”. At several times now it seemed to me like Ante is keeping MC’s head over water in this way. Maybe since she can read his thoughts/see his soul it’s the only thing to keep him from breaking apart. I’m only unsure if this is a sign of affection or if Ante is just stringing him along for her own gains. This ambiguity makes their relationship one of the most interesting I’ve read in a long time.
Dagashi-ya Yahagi: Setting Up a Sweets Shop in Another World: Volume 2
Oof… sounds as bad as some indie books I’ve read on Kindle Unlimited. You can tell they’re writing chapter to chapter and whole plotlines go unresolved because the author forgets about them.
Survival in Another World with My Mistress! Vol. 7
Reminds me a bit of one of the indie fantasies I was reading. MC slowly builds a harem (basically one new girl every book) but by volume 9 it was reading like bad fanfiction. The author couldn’t properly juggle all the girls so they all ending as one-dimensional caricatures of their former selves.
The rare series I’ve seen as an anime before reading the LN.
I actually go both ways. Sometimes I see the anime and go “wow, that’s so cool! I want to know more!” and then get into the LN. Other times, something shows up on my recommended and I get into it that way and then later on the anime comes out and I of course watch it. I love that in this case the anime was so forgettable you forgot you’d watched it before picking up the LN though :D
MC slowly builds a harem (basically one new girl every book) but by volume 9 it was reading like bad fanfiction.
This is worse. It’s volume 7 and he has 20+ mistresses that come in all shapes and forms. I’ve read this volume to maybe the half point and every chapter was just some discussion about which group of girls get to fuck MC next followed by an orgy. The next chapter then starts with a recap of the orgy in some roundabout way which I can only assume the author writes while constantly giving what he thinks are suave winks. Stuff like “The last night was a war of attrition but in the end everyone won if you get what I mean…”. And then it repeats with another group of girls fighting for his attention. Fanfics have more class than that.
I am laughing so hard at your description. It’s like a crazy parody except the author is trying to be serious.
If you remember, I had just finished Failure Frame Volume 8 last week. After that explosion of an ending I spent this week tearing through Volumes 9, 10, and 11. They were fantastic. Some of the side-plots are getting resolved now and the MC is truly becoming the persona of “The Lord of the Flies”.
Volume 11 ends with a massive set up for what seems like a final showdown. A big part of the story is that you don’t know where people’s loyalties lie or what they may be plotting but we finally get a lot of insight into a lot of the character’s motivations and goals. It’s really great to see how fleshed out all the characters in Failure Frame actually are. With how everything is coming together, I expect Volume 12 will end the series. Sadly, the release date for that isn’t until summer of 2025.
One of the interesting themes that’s been around since the start of the series is how unique our MC’s powers are. It’s basically in the title. He is the lowest class of hero: E-class. He has the worst type of abilities: status effects. And his stat modifiers aren’t that great aside from his MP. But even early on we knew something didn’t fit. His abilities are actually overpowered. His “unique item” is truly unique. And his leveling curve is abnormal as well. None of this should be spoilers since it’s all evident in the anime but we get more confirmation of it in these later volumes as well. It makes me think there’s some underlying secret behind all this. Like someone specifically tailored him to at first appear super weak but actually be OP in the end for some purpose.
Anyway, since I’ve been on a LN kick I’ve also been re-reading Trapped in a Dating Sim. Of the 12 volumes out right now, I’ve read 7 but it was so long ago I decided to start at the beginning again. I was actually surprised how much I had forgotten. The anime is good but definitely deviates on some plot points. It’s not enough to change the story or anything, but it’s still fun to see how they simplified it for the animation. On the other hand, I think the anime captures the tone of the novel almost perfectly. The anime covers volumes 1 and 2, but I just finished up volume 4 on my re-read binge.
Jeez, did I really read 7 light novels this past week?
Dimension Wave: Vol1 - VR MMO RPG isekai where MC instead of going and fighting monsters like a normal person would. They go fishing. There is a gender bender theme but MC isn’t angry or at least annoyed at his sisters for pulling a prank on him but also he isn’t embracing his new avatar like I would expect. I enjoyed it nontheless.
I became cute one in the troubleshooter sqad - Web Novel 22 chapters Really nice worldbuilding with guns and magic in cyberpunk setting. The MC isn’t really a focus here but it was allright read.
I am also trying to branch out from LNs a bit with a bunch of manga and western Sci-fi. So I piked up Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir not as good as The Martian but still good
I piked up Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Oh, I love Project Hail Mary. I’d say it’s right up there with the Martian for me. If Martian is a 9 out of 10, then PHM is 8 or 8.5 out of ten. I think there’s a movie releasing in 2026 or something.
If you want some more Western Sci-Fi recommendations, I’d recommending Old Man’s War or Redshirts by John Scalzi. OMW has a more serious tone and is the first in a saga (but stands on its own) whereas Redshirts is a parody on Star Trek. Just depends on what you’re in the mood for.
