The Saga of Tanya the Evil, Vol. 13: Dum Spiro, Spero Part 1 - As always, Youjo Senki delivers. Carlo Zen is a master of incorporating obscure historical references that stimulate my interest in various parts of world history. Not to mention, the dichotomy between the body of Tanya and its “inhabitant” is always fascinating, as is the protagonist’s unwavering adherence to the laws of war, and “his” commentary on social relations in this semi-fictional, World War II-inspired world.
I greatly enjoyed the anime but somehow never touched the LN. I should put it on my plan to read list.
That’s so ironic, because the anime essentially ignores the source material. I’d go so far as to say they’re two different series, to be perfectly honest.
Same. I enjoyed the anime but it isn’t something I can watch Repeatedly. Still, I’m a sucker for isekai and it’s even more silly since he gets reincarnated as a girl and stuff.
As promised, I read Ascendence of a Bookworm Part 1. Yes, all three books of part one. And let me just say a few things… it’s pretty dang good.
It was really cool seeing the differences between the book and the anime. For instance, I had always thought it strange that everyone thought parue was only good for bird feed when all Myne had to do was taste it and see that it was delicious. There’s no way hungry poor people hadn’t tried to eat parue fruit before. The book’s explanation made a lot more sense.
We also get to see a lot more of Lutz’s family dynamics which flesh out his character a lot more. And we see that Myne’s cooking is her trying to recreate Japanese food. Speaking of food, the otherworldly vegetages didn’t make an appearance in the anime either.
Concerning the art, I still think Llo (Reincarnated as a Sword) delivers better art. In. Bookworm the cover art is great but the black and white art feels wrong. I eventually realized the issue: Rather than the art depicting a moment in time, it was as if you described a scene to an artist and had them draw it. The art is stagnant. Also the art felt more raw and unpolished. However this seemed to get a lot better by the 3rd book. And honestly it’s only a minor complaint. Other light novels have worse art or no art at all so I’d say the art is still pretty good. I just love Llo more.
As a side note, I did like how the anime depicted the Crushing scene. It might even have been better than the book. I love that moment.
Anyway Myne is about to start at the Temple and I’m looking forward to that.
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Before the Tutorial Starts: A Few Things I Can Do to Keep the Bosses Alive, Vol. 1 - Just another isekai to kill time. Decent world building. Decent plot. Decent characters. This isn’t bad but also nothing really to stand out from the rest. Everything is just slightly better than the average isekai. I immersed myself into that world and I enjoyed my time.
I am looking for something simple right now (currently reading I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World because I was so thoroughly unimpressed by the anime) and “just slightly better than the average isekai” doesn’t sound so bad right now.
Are the books that bad? I was also unimpressed with the anime. Like, I thought it started strong but by the end I was yelling about how incredibly stupid everything was.
Are the books that bad?
Yes. I write my notes for this weekly thread between chapters and after the first 3 chapters I had to force myself to stop taking notes for the volume so that it doesn’t turn into a wall of vitriol. It’s seriously bad. Like the day dreams of a permanently bullied 13 old kid that thinks that everything would magically fall in place for him if only X would happen. There is no self reflection and everything is happening to outside factors. I really think that author is a severely damaged person and kinda feel pity while reading the book and his world view shines through.
That being said, I started volume 2 a hour ago.
That being said, I started volume 2 a hour ago.
https://media.tenor.com/5rgyEsENjeEAAAAM/i-hate-this-data.gif
Somehow, I finished two and a half volumes between my obsession with POE2.
Hell Mode: Volume 8 - Dropped the volume halfway through. I grew terribly bored by the series. While I liked it in the early volumes well enough it has turned into an uninterrupted deluge of barely coherent exposition. In this volume for example there is a setup for a big fight against a big baddy and a few sentences into the fight the author rather starts to ramble about the setup of the pantheon and the number of followers each god has. It’s like it’s written by the “Oh, Squirrel” dog from Pixar’s Up just with “Oh, tangent” instead.
Ascendance of a Bookworm: Short Story Collection Volume 2 - I really like those short story collections. While reading the main story I always get the feeling that there is more to it. The characters in it aren’t just entities that stop existing the moment MC stops looking at them like the LOD system in a video game. Stuff only hinted at when you read between the lines, like how two side characters interact with each other as if something happened off-page that changed their relationship. And those short stories show that there is indeed more to the story than is shown in the main volumes. Noteworthy this time are the short story of Tuuli that made me go “WTF!” and an unpublished short story of Justus that Miya Kazuki hinted at would include foreshadowing for a continuation of the series. Thinking about what in this short this foreshadowing could be or what it might imply is driving me crazy.
Magic Stone Gourmet: Eating Magical Power Made Me the Strongest Volume 7 - From all the possible scenes to choose from it’s another bathing scene they picked for an illustration. It’s like clockwork. Plot-wise there is a war breaking out and tensions grow but somehow I don’t get the feeling of dread that should come with this plot development while reading it. The prose is missing the needed impact somehow so this entire subplot falls flat for me. It’s not a complete disconnect and I’m not expecting the gritty memoirs of a seasoned war veteran here, but also not the “please let me go pluck some flowers in the park” attitude of MC when his harem is playing it up as if he’s walking into certain death.
The characters in it aren’t just entities that stop existing the moment MC stops looking at them like the LOD system in a video game.
lol. Yeah, sometimes it’s fun to see things from a different character’s perspective. I remember John Scalzi did it really well with part of the Old Man’s War series. One book follows events from the MC’s perspective with his adopted daughter showing up at opportune times. Then another is from the daughter’s perspective and all the deus ex machina from the first book is explained. The interweave can be nuts.
I really love it when this is executed good. Completely breaks a story though more than anything else if done badly.
Reincarnated as a sword - Volume 01 to 02 (Audiobook)
It took some time to get use to the Narrator, but they have grown on me. I really want to enjoy the story but I am still not sure, it still hasn’t got its hooks into me. It might be that I find the fights to be a bit long and start to lose interest.
Ascendance of a Bookworm - Part 3 - Volume 01 to 03
After rewatching the anime I have continued to reread the LN.
Ascendance of a Bookworm - Part 3 - Volume 3 spoilers
When Myne became Rozemyne her family took her citizenship disc and put it on her grave. During the Hasse executions we learn that they are used to execute people.
Isn’t leaving her disc the a huge risk? Veronica’s fraction dislike Myne and have a reason to get rid of her, wouldn’t they give anything to be able to get that disc and give it to Georgine to be destroyed?
If they knew anything about the lower city and their customs they would be able to kill her anytime.
Reincarnated as a Sword is probably my favorite LN but it admittedly does start out a bit slow. I think it starts to separate itself in book 3 and really starts to shine by book 5. Also, I don’t do audio books but I imagine the narrator can make or break a book.
Yeah, I will continue it. I will probably switch to reading rather than listening as I find I only retain 50% of it when listening and working at the same time.
I imagine the narrator can make or break a book.
Yeah, some narrators are so bad that I will drop it immediately, alway listen to the sample when buying audiobooks.
This narrator isn’t bad and I got use to him after a while, it was just a big change from Teachers English Dub VA. (It was the same with Spice and Wolf, Holos VA was the same for the audiobook and English Dub, but the audiobook didn’t have the haughtiness the anime did.)
Also the VA does Frans hmpt very well.
spoiler
If I remember correctly: she would get a new one when she was baptised as Rosemyne the daughter of Karsted and step-daughter of Elvira in the same ceremony in which she then gets adopted by Silvester and Florencia. I would assume this overwrites the old coin or the first coin just doesn’t matter anymore since there is a spare. Certainly it’s not something Ferdinand et all would just miss.
Spoiler
Yeah, that was my take too. It’s just it’s never specifically said. Probably because Myne is the first and last person it will happen to.
