Currently Reading - Back Stage!

Jenn - I'm currently reading "Back Stage!", a boys love light novel based on the manga series Love Stage!

Don't knock boys love until you've tried it. The story is very sweet.

The story follows Rei, the manager of a family of famous people while he struggles to get the youngest son to drop his dreams of being a mangaka and join the family business of being famous. This isn't helped by the fact that he's dating the second son Shogo, a famous musician. He struggles with the guilt of being in a relationship with someone he's not only supposed to be working with, but who's adored by screaming fan girls all over the world.

This novel is full of interesting vocabulary because it's written for an older audience. This book uses furigana at points because of the complicated kanji the author likes to use. But then drops it as soon as a word is mentioned once in a chapter.

I'm collecting the vocabulary and learning it on Memrise [click here].

My goal is to finish the first book by the end of January.

Comments

Review - ビリギャル / Biri Gyaru

学年ビリのギャルが1年で偏差値を40上げて慶應大学に現役合格した話 (aka ビリギャル) Jennifer - A new word I learned with this book was ビリ which means "the last" or "at the bottom". This case it's a story about a gyaru (gal) who's at the bottom rank of her school, increases her scores by 40 points in 1 year and gets into Keio University . This is a true story. It's a piece of non-fiction written by the juku teacher who taught Sayaka (our gyaru) and pushed her to get her grades up and get into one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. At the start of the book we meet Sayaka in the moment she meets Tsubota ( 坪田) Sensei. He asks her some simple questions but is amazed by her creative answers. The start of the book looks at the holes in her basic knowledge and understanding of the world. When I say lack of basic knowledge I mean very basic knowledge. Tsubota Sensei asks her to draw a map of Japan and she draws a circle. She doesn't only realize there are ...

Review - 新世界より / From the New World

Kafka - As I stated in my earlier review of part 1 of 6, From the New World is presented to us as a memoir, a cautionary tale from the 'new world' to an even newer world and an investigation of a past now lost — all at the same time. Now I would also describe it as a rich metaphorical painting of society, but this author's world is filtered through Saki, a more conservative narrator, so the metaphors don't feel as forced as they would be fed to us directly. The unsettling atmosphere that ties this world and Saki's worldview as she becomes forced to challenge it is this novel's best asset. It's the main reason I wasn't able to put the book down for long. However, I do not mean to say that the plot itself isn't full of suspense and intrigue. The plot goes back and forth between mystery and action, and unlike many stories today, very many people die. There are no guarantees. The only ones you can be sure live to see the end are the narrator, an...

Currently Reading - コンカツ？/ Konkatsu?

Daniel - Again I thought I'd try something different and this book caught my eye while I was book shopping over the Winter break. Written by the same author as the 'Ikebukuro West Gate Park' series, this one is about four women living together in a share-house, and follows their attempts at finding love in the heart of Tokyo. I've got maybe a third left to plough through, but I've been really enjoying it so far. Although some aspects have of course been exaggerated for entertainment value, it provides an interesting look into the messy and often shallow world of group and speed dating with some comical episodes and cutting witty quips from our protagonist. The protagonist's constant clashes with the ideologies and expectations of the men surrounding her and her friends throughout the story generate a lot of food for thought on a number of social issues currently plaguing Japan. Being a very grounded slice of life novel, the language doesn't throw ...

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