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sabertoothwalrus · 14 days

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I'm going to think out loud about the dungeon meshi ages for a sec

I'm going to preface this by saying that this is based on my existing knowledge, and fact checking is difficult because there is A LOT of contentious research out there.

First of all, I think a lot of people come at this from a modern lens, forgetting the context that this is fantasy medieval era. this is fiction. on top of that, this is specifically Ryoko Kui's understanding of medieval era aging. plus fantasy. So before anyone comes at me with a bunch of 'ermmmm actualy's just consider that I don't really care and also it might not matter in this context lol

as far as the "age of maturity" assigned for each race, something I don't see many people talk about is that "teenagers" are a fairly recent concept. For a long time, you were either considered A Kid or Not A Kid. but this doesn't necessarily mean kids were more/less developed then, just our cultural expectations for certain age groups have changed.

Laios says the age of maturity for tallmen is 16. I don't think that means 16 year olds in the dungeon meshi universe are necessarily "more mature" than modern 16 year olds, but moreso that they have more responsibilities. However, things like medicine, smoking, drinking, sun exposure, physical activity, etc all affect age, so it's possible that developmentally they're closer to modern 18 year olds? Izutsumi is 17 (less than two weeks from turning 18, actually), and very much acts like a modern 17 year old.

The age of maturity for half-foots is 14. Chilchuck was 13 when he got married and had his first two children. Even though, at age 29, he's the equivalent of a modern 50 year old, I don't think he was That much more developed at 13 than a tallman. I think if half-foot 14 is equal to tallman 16, then Chilchuck was Pretty Damn Young for a parent LMAO. Even if you're generous and say tallman 16 is a modern 18, he still would've been younger than that.

The long-lived races are interesting. Marcille is obviously a unique case, and not a lot of this applies to her. We do know what Senshi was like as a minor (miner, lol), and he seemed like a modern 15ish, considering he was 36 and dwarf maturity is 40. I think it'd be really interesting to delve into how a culture functions with people being developmentally adolescent for soooooo long. Imagine middle school lasting 20 years. that would fucking suck. I suppose it makes sense why long-lived races are so patronizing.

Moving onto lifespans, I want to emphasize that they're average lifespans. Even in the manga, they say some half-foots live to 100, it's just rare. So it's less that a tallman 60 year old is "older" than a modern 60 year old, it's that it's easier to keep people alive for longer nowadays. Modern medicine is a BIG contributor. Dental health as well, considering how much your health is affected by your diet (and how much the action of chewing alone aids in digestion). Curious to know what the FUCK elven dentistry is like.

It also makes me wonder if half-foots would have a longer average lifespan if they weren't like, used for bait and treated so poorly, but half-foot 29 does seem to be middle-aged for half-foots. so who knows!

In that vein, I don't know if I can see Mithrun quite making it to 400 😬 like, his experience as a dungeon lord took a lot out of him quite literally, and he's doing exceptionally well despite it! I imagine he'd eventually start to develop a lot of heart problems if he doesn't have them already. Perhaps early-onset dementia. His memory seems still quite intact (he corrects Kabru on his story's accuracy) and he doesn't act like, lobotomized. He doesn't seem forgetful or confused, and he has a sense of humor/sarcasm still. It's mostly his task initiation that's been affected.

I almost want to say that mana affinity could affect long-lived races' lifespans, except dwarves have very poor tolerance for mana, so it's probably not that.

okay anyway I didn't really have a point to this post so I'm just gonna end my rambling here

#dungeon meshi #dungeon meshi spoilers

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redgoldsparks · 2 months

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March Reading and Reviews by Maia Kobabe

I post my reviews throughout the month on Storygraph and Goodreads, and do roundups here and on patreon. Reviews below the cut.

Delicious in Dungeon vol 4 by Ryoko Kui

I'm reading these books so fast I can barely remember which parts of the plot happened in which volume but know that I am still having a great time!

Delicious in Dungeon vol 5 by Ryoko Kui

Oh, this story has taken a darker turn, and also just introduced a whole bunch more characters. Will I be able to keep track of them all? I hope so!

Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb, read by Anne Flosnik

Unfortunately, this is definitely the weakest Robin Hobb book I've read so far. I was expecting to like it less than the glorious, 5-star previous trilogy, but I actually think I'm going to skip the rest of the Rain Wild Chronicles and read summaries online to get to the next Fitz books. This book follows five main POV characters. This works fairly well for the first half, when the characters are all in different physical locations. However once all of the characters meet up, we start getting the same scene from multiple different POVs, which feels extremely repetitive. Also, almost EVERY SCENE includes a flashback, often a lengthy flashback, sometimes to something that happened only the previous day and could have been told as present-moment action. This writing choice baffled me. It's something I can't remember struggling with in any of Hobb's previous books, but by the end it was driving me up a wall. The book also moved very slowly; the stakes feel lower, and the character far less emotionally true than in the two Fitz trilogies. Disappointing, but I will keep moving forward towards the next part of the series I want to read.

Delicious in Dungeon vol 6 by Ryoko Kui

Damn, a lot of characters get murdered in this volume! Good thing almost everyone who dies in the dungeon can be revived. Also, very excited to finally meet the cat ninja I've been seeing fan art of since before I even started the series :3

Delicious in Dungeon vol 7 by Ryoko Kui

I am still completely caught up in this series. I love the glimpse of Senshi's past revealed in this volume, and the lore of the dungeon that is still being revealed. There was a line in here about how the dungeon leaves you alone if you don't ask much of it, but that if you have strong desires it throws even more obstacles into your way. Our heroes have such big goals right now, but they're marching ahead regardless!

School Trip by Jerry Craft

A satisfying new installment in the New Kid series from funny, talented, charming Jerry Craft! I appreciated how this volume started to complicate some of the students who had been left a bit one-dimensional in previous books. Several people stood up to and called out a bully; new friendships were built; and Jordan Banks left Paris even more inspired than ever to follow his dreams of becoming an artist. This series has a lot of jokes, but also a lot of heart!

A Frog in Fall (and Later On) by Linnea Sterte

Minor frog is less than a year old, and is dismayed when winter begins to steal all of the light and warmth from his world. Instead of bunking down safely with his mentor to wait for spring, he sets out on a journey with two vagabond toads passing by on a quest to make it all the way to the tropics. They tramp through the Japanese countryside, encountering tree spirits, new friends, dangers, and views the likes of which minor frog had never even imagined. This is a gorgeous book; every page worth pouring over, an economy of line and detail building a beautiful and mysterious world of talking animals and miniature packaged foods. Made me want to draw.

Dark Rise by CS Pacat read by Christian Coulson

In 1820s London, orphaned Will tries to earn enough as a dockworker to survive- and evade the killers pursuing him. Violet dresses in her half-brother's clothes and sneaks onto a ship in the Thames to watch a man be branded with his master's mark. Katherine excitedly anticipates her engagement to one of London's richest and most mysterious lords; his gallantry nearly makes up for the fact that he's twice her age. And in the bowels of one of that lord's ships, James tortures a man for information. All of these characters are 16 or 17 years old, but all of them are tangled in an ancient conflict between the Light and the Dark which stretches back into an age of magic before history. This is CS Pacat's YA fantasy debut, and it contains a lot of tropes very familiar to both YA and high fantasy- there are shades of both Tolkien and Rowling in this. Its fast-paced and action-packed, but especially in the first third of the story, the characters all felt fairly thin. None of them have quirks, hobbies, career hopes, relationships outside of immediate family, school, or work; or much more than a brief sketch of past. It took until the mid-way point for what I consider Pacat's major strengths as a writer to emerge: intense, homoerotic interpersonal sparring between characters operating under major power imbalances. Every scene in which the seductive, manipulative, powerful evil gay faced off against the good boy chosen one crackled with energy. Unfortunately, there were only four of these scenes in the whole book. It ends on a cliff-hanger, because of course it does, with a tempting set up for book two; but that doesn't entirely excuse the fact that the first 50% felt like set up. I will definitely keep reading, but long-time Pacat fans should take note that this is toned down version of what I expected based on Captive Prince.

Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hulls (re-read before event)

What an accomplishment! I savored every page of Feeding Ghosts, absolutely floored by the labor and courage that went into the writing of this book. The inking is gorgeous, the history is clear, digestible, and devastating. This book threads the line between honesty and compassion in a way that I appreciate so much in any memoir, but especially one dealing with family. Hulls lays out the story of three generations of women starting with her grandmother, Sun Yi, a Shanghai journalist who faced intense persecution during the rise of Communism in China, who penned a popular and scandalous memoir and then suffered a mental breakdown. This left her only daughter, Rose, a student at an elite boarding school with no parental figures and no other family to lean on. Eventually Rose earned a scholarship to an American university and in the end moved her mother into her California home. Sun Yi haunted that home during the author's own childhood. The unexamined trauma and codependency of Sun Yi and Rose drove the author to the extreme edges of the Earth, seeking freedom from their ghosts. But in the end, she stopped running from her family history and turned, instead, to face it. Shelve this book with Maus, Fun Home, Persepolis and The Best We Could Do. Re-read it for a second time and got even more out of it on a second pass.

Delicious in Dungeon vol 8 by Ryoko Kui

Laios and company realize that their encounter with changling mushroom rings had more consequences than they'd realized- its the body swap episode! This visual humor is contrasted against increasing dangers from both above and below, as nastier monsters and political machinations begin to close in on our heroic adventuring party. I'm now over halfway through this series and almost feel like I should start reading it more slowly to savor it, but I'll probably just keep devouring it instead.

Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang and Leuyen Pham

High school senior Val grew up knowing her family was unlucky in love; for generations, relationships in her family have ended in heartbreak. Her childhood love of Valentines Day ends with a shocking family revelation and what feels like the beginning of a curse. Then her Vietnamese grandmother sweeps her off to a Lunar New Year celebration in downtown Oakland and a pair of cute lion dancer boys catch her eye. Could one of them break the spell on her heart? This story offers a classic and satisfying rom-com, with Val torn between an outgoing, rich, but flaky boy and a broody, shy, loyal one. The story takes several kdrama style twists and includes ghosts, saints, red envelopes, confessions, fights, reunions, tears, and kisses. For a comic, its wordy; the pages are dense with small panels and thick with dialogue, but also illustrated with such warm, humor, and realism. I really liked that the story included as much of Val's relationship with her family and best friend as romance. And the lion dancing scenes practically leap off the page with color and energy!

Witch Hat Atelier vol 10 by Kamome Shirahama

This series remains as visually stunning as ever but I'm struggling with how every single book expands the cast. There are so many characters now that I don't care about that much, and have trouble remembering from volume to volume. I wish the story line would stick more closely to Coco, her classmates, and their main mentors!

Delicious in Dungeon vol 9 by Ryoko Kui

Oh the stories are all converging! The savior at the bottom of the dungeon is probably a demon! Ituzumi saves the day! I am still having a great time reading this series.

A Dowry of Blood by ST Gibson read by Abby Craden

A short, very queer, very poly retelling of Dracula focusing on his coven of enthralled lovers. I liked the way the book breezed through history, as the dysfunctional little family moved from one major European city to the next, with snatched moments of glittering joy interwoven with violence and plague. The story is fairly simple, and has a happier ending than I expected, or honestly think the characters deserved.

City of Dragons by Robin Hobb

I DNFed the previous book in this series and just read a summary online before skipping ahead to this one. I think that was a very good choice for me. This third one was more engaging and a bit more action packed, with some cool discoveries about the city of Kelsingra and the nature of Elderlings. But the Rain Wild Chronicles as a whole do not stand up to the quality of the Farseer books. There are so many POV characters that a few of them get only two or three scenes in this whole book. I don't feel that I deeply know any of these characters; while at the same time watching Hobb pair them off at an extraordinary rate- in the last book five sets of characters got together and in this book an additional two couples are developing feelings for each other. Between this and a kidnapping, a birth, a murder, and a lot of blackmail, this series feels like a soap opera.

Delicious in Dungeon vol 10 by Ryoko Kui

Almost two TPKs in this volume, yikes!

Delicious in Dungeon vol 11 by Ryoko Kui

You know shit's getting serious when the character who has been the series main villain up until now is partially devoured by a different, worse villain. Exciting changes coming to this dungeon under it's new lord and master!

Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Sterle

When Becca gets invited to sit with the popular girl clique at her new high school, she's thrilled. But the friendship turns bloody and complicated when she learns that her new friends are actually werewolves who need to kill and feed on a human once a month. If she joins them, Becca will gain superhuman strength and a pack; she'll never have to fear a male predator again, because she will be a predator herself. I loved the queer rep and the twist on werewolf lore; I wish it had been a little longer and more developed. Give me multi-page transformations sequences!

Delicious in Dungeon vol 12 by Ryoko Kui

I love seeing all these plot lines come together! Building towards a wild climax.

Delicious in Dungeon vol 13 by Ryoko Kui

I went out and *bought* vol 13 of this series because my library didn't have it yet, that's how hooked I am. And now I have to wait until JULY for the final volume! (But also, thank goodness I didn't get into this series any sooner or I'd have a much longer wait).

#book reviews #books #reading #comics #manga

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pomodoko · 1 month

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I don’t think his crush on Falin makes him creepy. Obviously Laios shouldn’t be giving microaggressions and should learn from his ignorance! I don’t think Toshiro is shallow and wholly hates Laios, yet I despise him as a person… He’s known Laios long enough to know that “dropping hints” is not a mature or effective response even though it makes sense why he didn’t have the courage to speak directly. Shuro being a fake friend was an issue long before his breaking point. Yes, he was repressed, envious and there were communication issues, but Shuro was also very genuinely ableist. Even if Shuro ‘is’ neurodivergent, people can be cruel to other neurodivergent people who are seen as less socially acceptable. Vitriol towards someone “not reading the room” is repulsively ableist. Of course he isn’t the only one who’s ableist in the story, but the shattering of Laios’s trust is gross. Laios tries to mask but is unable to. Shuro is also a rich noble whose family literally OWNS Izutsumi (& possibly Tade). Yet he does not care about the ethics behind that. Not that he hates her necessarily, but the cold way he treats her reveals that he does not care enough to adapt to the struggles of those who are different / difficult. I feel like his spineless inaction is both a means to avoid conflict, but also a barrier that prevents him from treating others with respect. I think it’s logical for someone to dislike this dude.

I feel like there's a lot of feelings in this writing that you gotta dial back. I totally understand where you're coming from, though. Being told to "read the room" was something I've experienced. I've been betrayed by people I thought were friends because I didn't know what I was doing was annoying them. It really hurt!

I also need to admit I've been on the other side, too! I don't like confrontations at all, but I've let things boil over because I was so afraid of confrontations that I'd snapped at my friends. Especially in Toshiro's state in which he was starving and lacking sleep and just saw his own love interest kill all of his retainers. If I was in his shoes, I'd snap, too! 😭

I wouldn't use the phrase "dropping hints" though. At least from my POV as an Asian from a high-context culture, where there's like, social hierarchy and such, and a lot of politeness abound. When it's something that you've been raised with for years and years, it's really hard to drop. Of course it's gonna be an issue! I think Ryoko Kui writing their argument and fight is a criticism on Japan's "high-context to the point of self-sabotage" culture. But it's important to note that it ended with both of them talking things out and Toshiro straight up saying "hey if you need to run I promise to smuggle you all out of the country". Here are some posts that I recommend reading that expand on it really well: here, here, here, here, and here.

In terms of Toshiro's family owning people, it's expanded more in the manga how these things came to be, but I'd suggest putting it in context of the manga rather than IRL. Toshiro came from the equivalent of Feudal Japan, after all. Here are some more posts talking about that (highly recommend the first one! it's a great read!): here, here (contains spoilers for the ending), and here. Do note that he treats all of his subordinates with respect, and he literally begged for their aid on his hands and knees to save Falin.

Anyway, at the end of the day, you're still going to dislike Toshiro and that's fine. My goal isn't to push my interest and opinions onto other people. I just didn't want him to be disliked shallowly, by reasons that are false or blown out of proportion. The characters of Dungeon Meshi are extremely flawed and incredibly well written, and it's really hard to see characters of color be judged more harshly. It feels the fandom's treatment of these characters will reflect on myself, and that's scary.

#my ask #Anonymous #long post #dungeon meshi #shuro dungeon meshi #toshiro dungeon meshi

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chzdavmpr · 4 months

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Delicious in Dungeon Reading Diary thing Volume 2

Spoilers, obviously

I think it's really smart to have Senshi basically be the handy man of the dungeon, the one keeping things running behind the scenes.

It's also really cool and smart how naturally Ryoko Kui managed to create a realistic feeling ecosystem. Like you read a panel like this

And just go "yeah that makes sense. It's like removing wolves from a national park causing the whole ecosystem to enter a death spiral." It's similar, but still feels unique to the dungeon setting. I think it's a sign of strong worldbuilding.

Senshi selling crops and telling people to leave the payment is chests is a really funny explanation for respawning dungeon loot.

She looks so sad. It's ok Marcelle. I think the cabbage is cool.

Is this guy 4 year old? Why is he THIS anti-vegetable?

Kobolds are PUPPIES?!!!

Senshi got that grindset

I just think it's funny how each ingredient lists it as stolen. As if in order to properly make the recipe you have to steal the ingredients

Just 2 floors to go! That's honestly a lot less then I would've guessed, at the current pace they will be back to the dragon by the 4th volume. It makes me very excited to see where the story goes.

Closing thought on chapter 9 since a lot happened: I think the bits of orc history we get is fascinating. It's left kinds unclear who started the conflict with them. Like they DO steal from others pretty regularly, but they do so only so that they can survive, and were basically banished underground. It makes them both more interesting and way less problematic then just a "naturally evil race," but they still feel like orcs instead of throwing out all the tropes that made them unique in classic fantasy fiction. Also very glad that unlike other chapters that are just named after the food they eat, the chapter called "orcs" does not have them eating orcs.

Ooh. Another puppy! I wonder if they are a kobold, or some other dog-person species? Oh also I've seen art of that person on the right. I think they join the party at some point or something.

Oh. They're dead. So at the very least they won't be important yet.

Ah man. When I saw ghosts on the back cover I was excited to see how they would eat ghosts. Which I guess the sorbet had a bit of ghost in it maybe. But I guess that actual magic stuffs are still separate from the food chain.

Poor guy. The "accidentally use really poor phrasing that makes you sound like a jerk" struggle is real

Mario 64 joke

The paintings were a very interesting way of giving a few drips of lore. It gives just enough make you interested. Also I'm gonna call it now: that elf that noticed Laios is the evil wizard who buried the city.

I wonder if the paintings kinda act as a time portal. Since the efl recognised Laios that means that the paintings have connected consciousness and continuity, which one way that could work is if the painting continuity was the real continuity. If they're not time portals though, I wonder what would happen if you did something with major consequences. Like if Laios killed the baby prince what would happen to the paintings of the prince's wedding day and coronation?

These things are a one-off thing and unless that elf is met and recognizes Laios none of these questions will be answered, will they?

Anyways, 2 chapters later Marcelle is confirmed as a horse girl.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME RYOKO KUI!

Senshi trusted Anne. Thought of her as a friend. To have her betray him, forcing him to kill her for his own survival. This is heartbreaking.

Senshi with his beard washed, and subsequently poofy after it dries is really funny, but tumblr only allows 10 images per post on the app, so you'll have to read the manga or watch the anime yourself to see it. There's actually been quite a few funny panels I wanted to share but couldn't.

Polygamous orcs. Good for them.

Laios just... draws a little stick figure of himself onto a living painting in the bonus chapter. And it seems to be a copy of his consciousness at the time of drawing. And then they just... leave it there. That's pretty messed up. The entire time this manga goes on I'm gonna just know in the back of my head that a copy of Laios is trapped in a single room forever. This also raised SO MANY MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT LIVING PAINTINGS and I'm now even more convinced that I won't get answers.

For some closing thoughts on the volume: I thought it was really good. Now that they've established the premise and basic character dynamics it felt like they gave me a lot more to chew on. There's now a countdown to the goal that makes it feels very within reach. There was bits of lore about both orcs and the dungeon that leave me wondering more. And the art and character writing is still just as good as volume 1. I look forward to reading volume 3. Ps: I only realised after typing all of this that her name is spelled "Marcille." I'm not combing through this post to fix it.

#manga #delicious in dungeon #dungeon meshi #reading diary #chz reads

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recentanimenews · 5 years

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Bookshelf Briefs 11/30/19

Let us give thanks for a hearty helping of briefs!

Beastars, Vol. 2 | By Paru Itagaki | Viz Media – If there was any doubt after reading the first volume of Beastars that I would be following the series, it has been completely banished after finishing the second. The sensitive gray wolf Legoshi continues to be a major draw for me, but so is Louis, the driven red deer who becomes an even more prominent character in the second volume (in addition to being featured on the cover). The scenes that the two share together are particularly intense, their contrasting personalities clashing and complementing each other in interesting ways. In part, using the framework of herbivore versus carnivore and the seemingly natural order of things, Beastars‘ narrative explores personal identities that challenge the expectations placed on individuals by a society that tries to neatly categorize them. But people are complicated and relationships are messy, something that Itagaki captures extremely well. Beastars is a dramatic and compelling series; I’m hooked. – Ash Brown

CITY, Vol. 6 | By Keiichi Arawi | Vertical Comics – Again, I feel that Arawi is not playing to his strengths by making this story of a city try to be as broad as possible. It’s best when there’s a through plot we can enjoy, such as seeing the restaurant owner/chef suffer from his cooking being average and his restaurant failing. There’s also some chapters that succeed by showing off amusing faces, such as the one where they try to figure out if one girl is mad or not (she’s not… at first), or trying to tell two identical twins apart when they insist on doing the exact same thing despite yelling about their differences. Unfortunately, when it’s random people doing random gags, it’s merely an average title. I’d like to be able to recall the names of anyone in this the way I can for Nichijou. – Sean Gaffney

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 7 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – This volume concentrates on fleshing out the cast and backstory, possibly at the expense of the humor—there’s been less and less each book—but it’s not unwelcome. particularly when we get Senshi’s backstory. Elsewhere, Laios may be a child of prophecy, and he and his group had better find his sister and somehow get her back or the elves will get there first and destroy the entire dungeon… which will lead to massive loss of life. That said, rest assured that there’s still some eating of delicious monsters in this book, which is one reason people started to read it. It’s just that now there’s a plot that is more important. Now that this series comes out so infrequently, each volume is even more of a treasure. – Sean Gaffney

Dr. STONE, Vol. 8 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – We’re finally leaving the village, as Senku and company decide to take the fight to Tsukasa, which involves building a car. Yes, they build a car. That said, that’s hardly the most surprising thing in this volume, as we’re reintroduced to Taiju and Yuzuriha, last seen seemingly being written out of the manga for being too boring. But now, six volumes later, they’re back, and they’re in Tsukasa’s camp. Which is good, as Chrome has been captured. There’s slightly less science and slightly more action in this volume, but that just helps remind you that this is a Jump title at heart, and it will be nice to see the original three stars back together again. Though can Taiju and Yuzuriha magically get interesting? – Sean Gaffney

Guilty, Vol. 1 | By Ai Okaue | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Sayaka and Kazu have been married for ten years, but only now has Sayaka actually told him she wants a child. Kazu does not. You’d think they’d have had this conversation over a decade ago! While he initially seems like a kind husband, readers soon learn that he is carrying on an affair with Rui, a woman who has positioned herself as Sayaka’s confidante at the bar she frequents, and is essentially keeping Sayaka trapped in a lie and denying her what she really wants. He’s utter trash, but Sayaka’s hard to sympathize with, as she is all too ready to believe his flimsy excuses. Drama involving GPS trackers, a coworker’s extramarital affair, and Sayaka’s first love ensues. I don’t really like these characters—though I have to admire how conniving Rui is—but I will probably be back for more. – Michelle Smith

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 11 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – The ‘serious’ plots here are Ishigami deciding to try and get serious about studies to woo the girl he likes, only to find out how hard that is when you’ve slacked off for so long, and the cliffhanger ending, where Shirogane reveals what he plans to do about college. There’s also some great stuff with Hayasaka having to once again pretend to be Kaguya’s butler in order to fool Fujiwara. But all that pales next to the extended chapters of rap battles we get which reminds you that when the series is trying to be as funny as possible there’s no equal. This was around when the anime was announced (there’s a chapter lampshading it), and I honestly can’t wait to see these chapters done. Still great. – Sean Gaffney

Melting Lover | By Bukuro Yamada | Kuma – This is a collection of BL short stories with a supernatural bent. In “Bottom of Heaven,” a reluctant hitman is followed by a hedonistic angel who helps his victims rest in peace. In “The Circus After Midnight,” troupe dancer Luce exposes his animal trainer roommate’s most closely held secret after said roommate fails to believe his father figure could be guilty of sexual assault. The best story of the bunch is “Melting Lover,” in which a typhoon carries a shapeshifting blob onto the balcony of Keisuke, who is obsessed with his (straight) senpai from high school. Does he fuck the blob? You bet he does. The worst is “Noisy Jungle,” in which an android tells himself it’s natural to boff his human pet, while clearly thinking of it as an animal. Ick. Overall, though, I liked these dark stories and would read more by this author. – Michelle Smith

My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 2 | By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka | Seven Seas – There’s another prose short story at the end of this second volume, which mostly just involves Katarina dreaming she’s in another universe, based on a standard shoujo private school manga, and because it lacks the “fantasy” elements her fate is… far more tolerable? As for the main manga, Katarina’s reactions to everything are the reason to get it, as it can give us all the faces that the light novel art wasn’t able to convey. She meets Maria here, who (to no one’s surprise) falls for Katarina just as hard as everyone else has, and Katarina is just as unaware of it. Still, Maria is still being bullied, so the plot of the game is still happening. A great adaptation. – Sean Gaffney

The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Vol. 6 | By Tomoko Yamashita | SuBLime (digital only) – I sometimes forget what an amazing balance Yamashita-sensei strikes between moments of romantic progress between Rihito and Mikado—like the scene where Rihito says, “I’ll help you. As long as it keeps you with me.”—and ominous reminders that Rihito has been through some terrible trauma and is a broken and dangerous person. In this volume, there are some parallels between his plight and that of Erika Hiura, who is trying to get away from the cult leader who’s compelling her to curse people. It was great seeing five to six characters in a scene together all working towards this common goal and feels like we might be heading towards a conclusion fairly soon. I hope Mikado emerges unscathed, but I do love that I am actually feeling some doubt about that. Can’t wait for the next volume! – Michelle Smith

One Piece, Vol. 92 | By Eiichiro Oda | VIZ Media – I was so worried going into this volume that Luffy was going to mess up the plans of the Wano rebels, which involve careful coordination and laying low for two weeks, neither of which he appears capable of. And, indeed, when he thinks Kaido has killed Tama, the little girl with whom he’s bonded, he picks a fight with the Emperor of the Sea. (I did appreciate seeing Luffy laid out by a single hit, though.) He ends up in a labor camp and, actually, this is for the best story-wise as it allows his more competent crewmates to help with the plan instead. It was so nice seeing Usopp distribute fliers, and Franky attempt to track down building plans for a mansion, and Robin snoop around in her geisha guise. I’ve missed those characters! This is shaping up to be a pretty fun arc! – Michelle Smith

Skip Beat!, Vol. 43 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – I can’t recall there ever being a bad volume of Skip Beat!, but this one was exceptionally good. Kyoko has been cast as Momiji, but Moko did not get the role of Chidori, so Kyoko is worrying a lot about her (and feeling guilty). It turns out, however, that another challenging role has come Moko’s way. I very much love how these friends can talk to each other about their professional setbacks and opportunities. Meanwhile, Yashiro contrives for Ren and Kyoko to spend some time together, but it backfires when Kyoko, still beliving that Ren is in love with the horrible Morizumi, gets so overwhelmed by how he makes her feel that she gets mad. Poor baffled Ren. Still, I can’t help but feel that this is the start of some real progress for them. We shall see! – Michelle Smith

Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 2 | By Honda | Yen Press – This is a fun title to read, but there’s not particularly much to review here. Honda-san walks us through more problems that Japanese bookstores have, from author signings to employee turnover and reassignments, to the difference between BL manga and gay manga. We meet wholesalers, go to a drinking party, and once again deal with a wide variety of customers, including possible yakuza and those who simply buy 90 pounds of titles and can’t carry them out the door. And there’s also the fact that Honda’s manga is now out, which means trouble when one of the prior plotlines, the customer service coaching one, annoyed the bosses. Still good, but you may want to stick to the anime. – Sean Gaffney

Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 6 | By Soichiro Yamamoto | Yen Press – It’s hard to top the last volume, which contains the two most famous chapters in the series to date. But this volume remains cute as a button, with an extended plotline involving a visit to a water park that shows off Nishikata’s nice side as well as his embarrassed and scheming sides, and reminds you why Takagi likes him so much. Even better is a chapter where she’s depressed (and thus not teasing him) all day, and he tries to find out why and cheer her up. Not that she’s willing to give up her place as the winner of every battle. That said, even the chapter with the eyedrops (which is another “will they try for a kiss” moment) has a tag reminding us these are still innocent middle-schoolers. Which is why this is so cute. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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daniellethamasa · 5 years

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Hey all, Dani here.

We have almost made it halfway through 2019, and I am both looking forward to and dreading my wrap up for this month. Because after we’ve made it through June, I get to write up my Top Ten Reads of 2019 (Jan-June), and I already have a dozen contenders on my list…plus whatever I end up reading in June. I’m going to end up with quite a few honorable mentions. But that’s okay; it just means I’m reading some darn good books.

Anyway, before I get fully into my wrap up for May, let’s first do a check-in on how I’m doing with my overall goals for 2019.

Reading – I read 21 books in May, which is pretty darn good overall. Quite a few of the books I read were fantasy reads, because I was participating in Wyrd & Wonder, but toward the end of the month my mood swung over to contemporary romance, which ended up working because of Books & Munches’ Moody May. Actually, I should check to see if I have all of those books logged in Goodreads because my reading challenge total might be wrong. Okay, yeah, my Goodreads was missing 7 books, so my total books read thus far in 2019 is 90 books, which is honestly a bit mind-boggling. I just increased my reading goal from 75 to 100, and I should be achieving the 100 mark in June, so I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself. Obviously I need to work on reading some more of my Big Books, so we’ll see how that goes.

Blogging – At the beginning of the month I had my blogger burnout weekend, but since then I’ve been back at it and there’s been a post on the blog every day. And Damian got back into the swing of blogging as well, so in total we had 35 posts go up on the blog in May, which is awesome. I also decided to finally start up Discussion posts, and to bring back my Recommendations posts. Oh, and I got back into doing some book tags–and I’m thinking of creating a couple book tags so look for those in the next couple of months.

Writing – I made it one of my big goals for the year to get back into writing, and so far I’ve pretty much failed at it…because I don’t count all of this blog writing in this category. I’ve written a lot of words for the blog. I need to get back into creative writing, and I really want to, but I’m just not feeling completely in the right space to do it. I think I really need to get myself a writing space set up in the house. That way I can actually have a space where I sit in it and that is where I do my writing.

Conventions – We bought our hotel room for Gen Con, and we also went through all of the panels and events and got our tickets for the ones we’d like to do. Damian is doing a lot of crafting events, which is really cool, and it is something he will definitely enjoy. I will be spending most of my time at the Gen Con Writers Symposium, so I will hopefully be learning more about the craft of writing, as well as how to make a writing schedule and stick to it, and also how to get out of this writer’s resistance/writer’s block I’ve been in for a while. And of course, when we aren’t at events, we’ll be wandering the show floor and play testing some tabletop games, which should be a lot of fun.

All right-y then. Now that we’ve looked at the overall 2019 goals, let’s get to wrapping up everything I read in the month of May–wow, I almost typed March instead of May, lol. It was a pretty good month of reading for me, and I managed to tackle some anticipated releases and read some pretty awesome fantasy reads. As always, I will link back to the review if I have one written.

Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen — 4.5 stars

How to Treat Magical Beasts Vol 3 by Kaziya — 5 stars

The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala — 5 stars

My Hero Academia Vigilantes Vol 4 by Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court — 4 stars

Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition Vol 1 by Natsuki Takaya — 4 stars

Ran and the Gray World Vol 1 by Aki Irie — 3 stars (Damian’s review is at this link too)

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Vol 1 by Taiki Kawakami — 4.5 stars (Damian’s review can be found here)

Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition Vol 2 by Natsuki Takaya — 4 stars

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang — 5 stars

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal — 4.5 stars

The Missing of Clairedelune by Christelle Dabos — 4 stars

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff — 5 stars

My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren — 5 stars

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren — 5 stars

Dragon Goes House Hunting Vol 2 by Kawo Tanuki and Choco Aya — 4 stars

Delicious in Dungeon Vol 3 by Ryoko Kui — 4 stars

Seven Blades in Black by Sam Sykes — 5 stars

She Just Wants to Forget by R.H. Sin — 3.5 stars

How Not to Summon a Demon Lord Vol 4 by Yukiya Murasaki and Naoto Fukuda — 4.5 stars

Lover Unbound by J.R. Ward — 4 stars

Whew, that was a lot of books. Now onto what we watched in the month of May. We realized that since we get satellite internet that isn’t the greatest, we can’t stream videos anymore without eating up all of our data allotment pretty early in our monthly cycle, so we’ve been watching a lot of DVDs, and we also cancelled our Netflix. It didn’t make sense to pay for something we weren’t going to be able to use. We’re hoping that some other internet providers will look to expand their service options because this is not an ideal situation for us. We literally had to leave our old internet provider because they service out to the 1300 “block” and we live in the 1400 “block,” so if they find a way to extend out a few extra miles we’ll be able to go back to our old unlimited data provider, which would be pretty awesome.

Anyway, we watched “Push” (4 stars), season 5 of “Game of Thrones” (4.5 stars), “Detective Pikachu” (4.5 stars), season one of “Eureka” (5 stars), season 6 of “Game of Thrones” (4.5 stars), “Deadpool” (5 stars), “Aladdin” (5 stars), season 2 of “The Big Bang Theory” (5 stars), “How to Train Your Dragon” (5 stars), “How to Train Your Dragon 2” (4.5 stars).

With the reading and watching wrapped up, it is time to move in to book haul and OwlCrate unboxing time.

The photo with the Magic the Gathering book and the manga and the photo with the geek dad book are both Damian’s haul–and no, we aren’t expecting. I just know that Damian loves crafts and this book was on a shelf of books to get dad for Father’s Day. It’s about doing geeky crafts with your kids, so I thought it would be cool for the future.

I really like the Howl’s Moving Castle sticker, and the passport holder. The only thing I’m not happy with in this box is the art print. It is two sided and has one of the main characters on each side, so if you put it up on your wall or something you have to choose which character to show off. It was still a really nice box, and I’m looking forward to June’s box (that special edition Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson is going to be excellent)

Finally, it is time to talk TBR. I’ve already mentioned my tentative and not complete TBR for #AGameofBooksathon, but I also need to mention that I’m also participating in Books & Munches Jazzy June, wherein we re-read old favorites or give a second chance to books we’ve read before and were on the fence with. There are a couple of books I’m wanting to read again, so this works for me. I also have a couple ARCs I need to read and review, so it should be a pretty good month for reading. Plus, June is GLBT Book Month, as hosted by the American Library Association (ALA), so I’d like to have a few Pride focused reviews and posts on my blog this month.

All right, well I think that is all from me today, but I’ll be back soon with more bookish content.

May Wrap-Up and June TBR Hey all, Dani here. We have almost made it halfway through 2019, and I am both looking forward to and dreading my wrap up for this month.

#ARC #Books!#Calendar Girls #Conventions #Discussion #Dungeons & Dragons #Gen Con #Movies #Reading #Review #TBR #Writing

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