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Small Nozomi and Big Yume vol 1
Amnesiac high school girl Nozomi finds herself shrunk to the size of a Figma and stuck in the home of Yume, a hopeless NEET. She convinces Yume that she's a figment of her drunken imagination who's there to help her sort her life out.

This was...fine. Not as funny as I hoped. Most of the first volume is Nozomi navigating the dangerous business of trying to be self-sufficient as a tiny person, while Yume flails around in a drunken stupor and feels sorry for herself.

6/10
 
His Dark Materials Book 1 - Northern Lights (Unabridged full cast audiobook) - As good as everybody says! Will be listening to the other two and likely follow up with the The Book of Dust series as well :)
 
'First Love Sisters' vol 1-3 (end): Quick disclaimer, this series isn't icky despite what the title might suggest. I did my due dilligence with this one, I tracked down the one out of print volume that Seven Seas did before having to stop due to licensing disputes, then I found the others...elsewhere (for the purposes of this post let's believe Claire reads perfect Japanese and made a trip to a Japanese book store 😋). There she goes, sauntering out of melonbooks with armfuls of yuri manga and questionable doujinshi.

Anyway, this is one of the fluffiest yuri manga I've ever read. Some light drama thrown in to spice things up but generally speaking it is cute af and I heartily recommend it to fellow sugar addicts. Also quick aside. Remember when manga characters had noses? And lips? This is what the great moefication took from us! This series began in 2003 in 'Yuri Shimai' so it may have just avoided it. See the picture below, our protagonist in the bottom panel has unfortunately been moefied already, but because this is 2003 the cool senpai is still shamelessly flaunting her lip privilege in front of her cute kouhai. How mean! How cruel to show off her functional mouth that's capable of eating people-sized portions of food while her poor kouhai subsists on peas! What was I talking about again?WhatsApp Image 2023-05-22 at 20.13.08.jpg
 
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Spice and Wolf Light Novel Volume 1 (Unabridged Audiobook read by J. Michael Tatum) - Was great to revisit this as an audiobook (I have already read Volumes 1-16 as text on a page rather than audiobook versions), I can see why this series has such an enduringly good reputation and I really like that it's not the modern isekai trapped in a videogame trope. Love the stuff about Paganism and Christianity and how they clash as well, it def adds something :)
 
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Reading 'Roll Over and Die' vol 3 (light novel) - About halfway through this and omg Flum she's so clearly your girlfriend but you're somehow still in denial about that. She literally starts referring to the other girl (Milkit) as her "partner" in this book, going on dates with her, and sleeping in the same bed as her. Come on Flum this isn't hard! Milkit gets kidnapped and tortured by a sadistic slave owner near the beginning and Flum shows up just in time to stop her being killed, makes Milkit leave the room, then gratuitously tortures the woman to death for harming her girl. These are not acts that can be explained in a platonic heterosexual way Flum. Flum!!!!


Edit: okay they did make some real progress, but damn it Flum you better learn what love is soon!
 
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The Little Prince (Chris Riddell illustrated hardcover) - OMG this was so beautiful and poetic, the lush mix of colour and black & white illustrations is absolutely stunning and the latter reminded me of the sensibility of Brian Selznick (writer and illustrator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret), the story of the little prince is a timeless classic for good reason, and this edition is value for money in terms of there being an illustration on every set of two pages even though the price tag is not really "cheap" I think £20 for such a nice edition (that's what it cost on Amazon when I bought it, it also has high paper quality, good binding and a ribbon bookmark) is fairer than some hardback books out there where you'd pay £15 for just text with a nice cover! (Not that I'm really knocking that hugely, and ofc there are often discounts but I'm more just making a point) :)
 
The Secret Garden (Inga Moore illustrated hardcover) - A lovely story with lush illustrations, I got a lot out of reading this, though I absolutely could have done without the scene where Ben Weatherstaff jokes about a domestic violence incident, and while I don't dispute that Colin's disabilities were psychosomatic and bought on by his father's grief-stricken rejection of him as a baby, and I don't think the book was really trying to imply that all disability can be cured by thinking yourself happy and strong, I have mixed feelings about some aspects of the last few chapters, like I get that they didn't really have good psychiatric meds back then so perhaps the author was trying to give people hope in the best way she knew how, and I'm not gonna argue that positive thinking has no potential for transformative power for anyone ever, but the system screws over a lot of people to an untenable degree, and some people are just born with brain chemistry that predisposes them to poor mental health. Some people spend their entire lives physically disabled and I don't know what they would think of this book, I could see some people feeling pretty invalidated :( That said this was on the whole a pleasure to read and a beautiful, touching celebration of the power of imagination and healing that can come from love and connection to nature.
 
'Hana and Hina After School' vol 1-3 (end) - I've had volume 1 of this since buying it used for absolutely ages, but then I realised vol 2 and 3 had risen to astronomical prices (vol 3 was £200+). Thankfully Seven Seas reprinted this series recently and although the US release date was missed by UK retailers, I did eventually get my hands on them.

I mean, this is a Morinaga yuri manga. Of course I love it. It isn't on the level of 'Girl Friends' but the setting of the cute merchandise shop and the relationship dynamic were unbelievably sweet. It suffers from a common Morinaga problem in that it has so few volumes that the last one feels like a bit of a rush, but she managed to give us a couple chapters of the happy couple together to make up for the preceding drama.

I honestly just wish someone would let Morinaga do like ten volumes of something, she is the undisputed queen of classic shojo drama mixed with yuri so I would absolutely love to see how badly she could stamp on my heart with a longer serialisation.
 
More or less continuing as they were:
Lady Rose Just Wants to Be a Commoner volume 3
My Stepmom's Daughter is My Ex volume 7 (LN)
I Fell for a Fujoshi volume 2
Full Clearing Another World Under a Goddess with Zero Believers volume 8 (LN)

Pokémon Journeys volume 4 (complete) - I didn't think this was a very good adaptation of the anime in the end. It feels disjointed since it kept skipping over so much content and that feeling only got worse in the last couple of volumes where so much had clearly been happening 'off screen' and wasn't explained clearly in the manga.

Dark Gathering volume 1 - The first volume of this went into the Shounen Jump app, so I decided to give it a go ahead of the anime next month. I'm not sure I'm 100% on board with it yet since while I like the premise there's flashes of something a lot darker under the surface and I'm not sure that meshes well with what's happening otherwise, but I'm certainly interested enough to give it another volume or two - particularly since it's in the SJ sub.

Hyouka volume 10 (JP) - Mostly covering the shorter stories from the tail end of the anime after the school festival. Skipped over the shoplifting one because the visuals made it much more interesting in the anime and I'm not interested enough in revisiting it to struggle through in my okay at best second language skills lol.
 
'Love Me For Who I Am' vol 2-5 (end) - So so close to being the perfect trans manga. It has everything. The main character is a very isolated non-binary person who gains acceptance and love from a group of queer people they meet through their job at a crossdressing cafe. Lots of trans rep, two of the other characters are trans women. Found family is pushed real hard (which I love since it's my absolute favourite trope), and it manages to balance serious traumatic subject matter really well with moments of queer joy, it made me cry on several occasions. The cis guy love interest of the main character is an absolute sweetheart as well, I adore him and his character arc. It even has what I'd describe as the most adorable confession scene I have ever read, it actually made me quite emotional.

Now we get to the one singular con of this series. It does that thing where it tries to humanise a truly monstrous character and redeem him, and it really doesn't pull it off. My perspective on it is that with the character they wrote this guy to be, he would not have come around and stopped being awful in the way he did. He was presented as a transphobic, homophobic. toxic masculine misogynist, but the story had him change his ways almost instantly after doing a chapter explaining his crappy motivations and having the main character confront him. I feel that the mangaka was more interested in having an unproblematically happy ending than he was in telling it like it is and letting the ending be a bit more messy, and truly I get the impulse, but as a trans person myself reading that bit rang kinda hollow.

Ahhh it's so close to being a masterpiece. I know I dedicated a lot of text there to my one sore point but it really is. It's just frustrating to see something so good fumble the bag a little bit in the final act. The final volume did have flashes of absolute brilliance as well, it's just that one isolated thing which lowers it from a perfect 10 to a 9 or maybe a 9.5 depending on my mood. I still hugely recommend people to read it. Trans/non-binary and other queer people will likely feel a deep sense of recognition from it, and cishet people who don't know a whole lot about queer identities will probably learn a hell of a lot from it.

I am honestly quite baffled that a cis man wrote this because it nails so many aspects of trans experiences so perfectly. His explanation in one of the afterwords was he got really interested in the topic and researched the hell out of it, but my brain keeps screaming at me that he has to be hiding some aspect of his identity from the readers. That could just be projection on my part but you have to understand that from my perspective as a trans woman, too much of this story hits too close to home for me not to speculate about the author. As a rule, when a cis person tries to write about trans identity we can really tell a cis person wrote it. but I don't get any of those vibes from this.
 
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'Vampeerz' vol 1-9 (end) - Not quite sure what score I'd give this now I've finished it. Tonally it is all over the place but it feels quite deliberate and comes across as very charming. There are many moments of extreme creativity on display in this one. It can be making you laugh one moment then stamping on your heart the next. The ending felt a little rushed but it did draw on pre-established lore so it wasn't unfitting. Perhaps just a case of the mangaka finding out it was ending with a couple volumes notice and having to quickly get to a conclusion. If you're interested in vampire stories or yuri (in my case I love both) then I can happily recommend it, I'm a sucker for genre yuri and vampire stuff is always fun. Even if the ending itself fizzles out a teensy bit, the journey to get to it is well worth the time investment.
 
'Failed Princesses' vol 1-6 (end) - Brief flashes of brilliance where it was a teensy bit like 'Girl Friends' (a far better manga), but kinda dissatisfying overall. I liked the character dynamics and the main couple, and there were two incredibly good character arcs, but I'm a big hater of series where the couple don't become a thing until literally right at the end. Excluding the bonus chapters that are separate from the volumes, we get all of one chapter where we actually get to see them as a couple

I am so, so tired of manga that treat the very start of the relationship as the end point. I want to see them being romantic for god sake, by all means have a dramatic build up to the confession and some bumps in the road, but don't just immediately end it there. 'Girl Friends' is a great example, Morinaga is a notorious drama monger but she at least gave us some nice chapters in the final volumes where we got to see Akiko and Mari grow as a couple, become more comfortable with each other, talk through each others' problems etc. 'Failed Princesses' just falls completely flat. It had some heart rending moments on the build up but then fails to show us the payoff. It's completely anticlimactic, all that drama for nothing.
 
Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest ch 133

Hajimete no Gal ch 158 - 159

In Another World With My Smartphone ch 79

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san ch 172

Karakai Jouzu no (Moto) Takagi-san ch 275 - 279

Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World ch 73

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime ch 107
 
'Senpai, Oishii desu ka?' c1-16 - Oh this one is good. Another yuri series and the premise is that a young woman who really enjoys cooking and eating huge amounts of food, but is insecure about it because it's considered "unwomanly" ends up in a relationship with a senpai at university who has a traumatised secret and seems very interested in learning lots of recipes. Most chapters involve some delicous Japanese dish being prepared together, while the characters gradually become closer and more and more of the psychological drama going on in their heads is revealed. It's at turns incredibly sweet and emotionally devastating and I am so incredibly hyped to see more chapters.
 
My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong, As I Expected volume 11 (LN) - Cliffhanger ending! Not going to go straight into 12 however as I am reliably informed that the ending of that one is even worse and I don't currently own the volumes beyond that...

Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction volume 12 (complete) - Extremely disappointed in the conclusion to this one. The series has been on a downward trajectory for the past 2~ or so volumes, but I was hoping it would be able to pull itself together for the ending. Instead, it's hard to tell how we got from where the series started to this. It just doesn't fit the themes we started out with.

Horimiya volume 15 - Almost at the end :( Will definitely finish up the series before the anime comes back, mostly to dull the pain of letting go of a cast of characters I have grown extremely attached to.

In/Spectre volume 17 - Another good entry in the series that brings back some characters we saw in the recent anime. Looking forward to seeing where this storyline goes in vol 18.

An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride volume 16 (LN) - This one handed the spotlight over to the side characters as they finally begin to figure out their relationships. Another fun read, can't wait for the anime.

Magic Knights of the Old Ways volume 5 (LN, complete) - Just like the authors previous series Last Round Arthurs, this one reaches its conclusion with Volume 5. However, unlikely LRA it stuck to its initial premise and ended up delivering an action packed and satisfying ending. It certainly feels like we skipped ahead in the plot to get here, but I'd rather that than a series that completely jumps the shark.

Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple volume 3 - Looks like there'll just be one more volume of this, although that hasn't been released in Japan yet so we're in for a wait. I hope people have watched the movie and aren't just waiting on seeing the conclusion in the manga given the slow release speeds. 😅

Black Summoner volume 13 (LN) - This is now firmly in what I would consider the final arc, although I am well aware it has continued for another 4-5 volumes and I don't think there's 4-5 volumes of stuff left to tell! Guess we'll see how it gets on...

Continuing on as they were:
Black Summoner volume 12 (this is the manga ver)
The Unwanted, Undead Adventurer volume 11 (LN)
The Misfit of Demon King Academy volume 5 (LN)

Reviews to follow for:
Wistoria: Wand and Sword volume 3
Am I Actually the Strongest? volume 1 (LN)
In the Clear Moonlit Dusk volume 3
The Holy Grail of Eris volume 2 (LN)
 
I finished 7th Garden.

The art is absolutely amazing - it's probably one of the best-looking series I've ever read.

The story is absolute nonsense though. Complete gibberish - and like a lot of series, it takes a turn towards the end and somehow gets even worse.

It didn't even get a proper conclusion. Jump moved the manga online in 2017, then...never got around to posting any and juet let it die.

Obviously it wasn't a popular series and (apart from the art), I can see why!

I totally recommend it if you like looking at really pretty art, because every page looks incredible. Just be prepared for a pretty nonsensical/boring story with a very sudden end.
 
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