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Really neat chapter and nice way to give a bit of lore behind the city/world.

Their conversation about eating shampoo killed me. These two are perfect for each other.

Looks good! Welcome!

Best Dragon

I wait for this award every season!

I was not expecting the furniture salesman to be a recurring character after Chapter 1. However, it does a great job of showing how far she has come despite being far from the titular normal.

Glad to see this one getting updates again after it was dropped before.

I hadn’t thought about the implications of communicating via message would be harder for her since she is so used to reading minds.

Aaaahhh! She just went for it!

Felt like it was time for a new one of these threads.

Haha, I think it’s the former. This one feels so contrived and messy that I almost find it charming. I think that if the characters weren’t fun, then it would be a harder pill to swallow. Despite how messy the overall story can be, I usually enjoy the hijinks of individual chapters.

Something else that I think helps is that I genuinely have no idea how things will turn out. There are multiple pairings that have seeds planted for the characters that I could see coming to fruition. Compare that to something like Kuzuhana where the outcome is pretty much predetermined.

This news is a couple weeks old now, but I really enjoy this series. It’s a lot of fun with fun characters. If you’re a fan of love polygons, it doesn’t get more polygonal than this one.

That investment number jumped out at me too. That has to either be an error or some really funny accounting.

Alright, quick rundown of some of the stuff I read this past week or two:

Recommendations:

• A Busybody Girl, Falling in Love - A strong recommendation on this one. Really short chapters means that it is quick to get caught up as well. Basic premise is that a girl the likes to play matchmaker ends up with a crush herself. Super wholesome and fun.
• Unwinding with the Aloof Girl at the Standing Bar - This is kind of like Drinking at the Bar with You (instead of smoking behind the supermarket). Very chill with adults that act like adults, but just enough blushes to activate that romcom neuron in just the right way. I enjoyed this a lot.
• Want to Sell Me Your Body? - a quick yuri series at just 6 chapters. It isn’t anything special, but what made me enjoy it is the whiplash of the story. It swings from pretty dark to very wholesome a lot and keeps you on your toes.

Anti-Recommendations:

• Strongest Curse Clan Reincarnation - This is a series for which I have read the full, completed WN years ago. The manga apparently got axed at some point and kind of hastily rushed an ending at a certain point. I enjoyed the WN a lot, but the manga was pretty generic sadly.

TBD Recommendations

• My Son’s Ex-Girlfriend Became My Subordinate - Only 3 chapters in so far, so pretty early yet to determine how this HR violation is going to turn out. I am not sure if this is just going to be trash, or something more interesting. There are elements there that can make for some good, spicy drama…so I am hopeful for this one.
• [NSFW] 1800 Days Living Together by a Too Busy Man and a Lonely Girl - I am not sure yet if this is going to turn into Usagi Drop the TV show, Usagi Drop the manga, or Domestic Girlfriend levels of debauched drama. Basic premise is that a teenage girl shows up at this salaryman’s house after an old classmate of his abandoned her daughter with a note saying that this guy would take care of her. He ends up taking care of her despite working an ungodly amount of hours and practically abandoning her himself. Sprinkle in a workplace affair he is involved in after hours and the ingredients are there for a huge mess.

Ummm…

• [NSFW] A Boy Who Was Just a Friend for Ten Years Confessed Love to Me - I am not all the way caught up on this series, but it is absolutely unhinged. The basic premise is that childhood friends start dating for real, and then everything about their relationship advances quickly as basically everybody around them saw this coming for years and treat them as a married couple. The unhinged part comes as they open up more and more with each other - likes, dislikes, living together, struggling to deal with the horny, etc. It has been a lot of fun, but you can’t take anything in this series seriously. Don’t go into it expecting anything except for goofs and gaffes. I leave you with an out of context panel:

Alright, going over the list for next season, here are my takes:

Definitely try to watch:

• The World’s Strongest Witch - This manga is a riot, and I can’t wait for anime-onlies to be introduced to Rona and her antics.
• Apothecary Diaries Season 3 - Absolute must-watch for me.
• Appraisal Isekai Season 3 - This is kind of like a comfort watch. I like the source, and the adaptation is fine. Despite the politics/war setting, I don’t find this one too dramatic/tense.

Watch if time allows

• Sasaki and Peeps Season 2 - The first season was a roller coaster of a story, but suffered with poor production values. I am interested in seeing more, but it isn’t high on my priority list.
• Suikoden - I have a good friend that has been trying to get me to play Suikoden 2 for years. I might just try to watch the anime version instead to troll him.
• Magical Girl Raising Project - I have heard great things from source readers. Think Shiboyugi, but with a magical girl bent.
• Magic Knight Rayearth - An oldie of an isekai. My wife is a big fan of the manga and has tried to get me to read her copies for almost 20 years now. She has pretty good taste, so I expect the story to be pretty decent.
• Reincarnated as a Sword Season 2 - I am pretty sure I am past this point in reading the manga adaptation, but this one is still a lot of fun.

Other notes

• Romelia War Chronicle - I read the very beginning of the manga for this series and enjoyed it. It is kind of a cross between kicked out of the hero’s party and a gritty war story. It’s a new studio making a debut, so who knows how it will turn out.
• A Wild Last Boss Appeared Season 2 - I binged the manga for this series a couple weeks ago and it was way better than I thought it was going to be. I haven’t watched the first season yet, but might try to get caught up on this one.
• Reborn as a Space Mercenary - I really wish there were more sci-fi isekai out there. It seems like a natural genre mix between the mecha and isekai worlds. I don’t expect much from this, but just wanted to say that I want more of this mix.

Schrödinger’s Engagement…

At least they actually talk to each other this chapter.

Iori was aging backwards through this chapter…

I adore this series. In some ways it kind of reminds me of The Meals Of A Single Woman (26) At Her Limit, but…like a way nicer and more tolerant world. Here’s hoping that Manami can insert herself into Iori’s life and help out like An did with Hiiragi.

You just know that one of these chapters she is going to sit down right next to him and it will feel like the most natural thing…

RIP Lulu…

At least she is going into it with the proper expectations.