Stuff i read this week
Imitation Vol. 1
IRL I am not into celebrity gossip or drama at all, I could barely identify any IRL celebrity types - I just do not care. In manga tho? Ohhhhh heck manga with idols, actors and other celebrities is one of my favourite genres. This is a really good implementation of that genre, we got a whole bunch of entertainers spread through three idle groups at various stages of their careers all interacting and it’s great, delicious drama. It’s fantastic. Our heroin, Maha is particularly good. Her arch of being a kind of over-eager newbie to crushed by the industry despite her innate talent shining though is super good and I can’t wait to see her grow.
That said, what the fuck is up with the whole scene where she’s working through her first acting job with the more experienced guy who is deffo the main love interest? He fucking hates her at this point in the story (for stupid reasons) and essentially physically assaults her on set? WHAT HE DOES IS LITERALLT AN ACTUAL CTIME. Like, he’s playing a murderer and ad libs a scene where he chokes her so hard she gets bruises on her neck? HE ACTUALLY CHOKES OUT THIS POOR GIRL. And everyone’s like “wow you did a great job of guiding her through her first job she’s acting so scared! It really sold the scene!” And NOBODY HAS A PROBLEM WITH IT!?! It’s messed up, and a lot of the drama over the next hundred pages are that dickhead trying to decide if he should apologise for committing an act of grievous bodily harm and traumatising the poor girl. It’s messed up and I wish someone would have said something. He has to go though a whole "am i a baddie?" arc, WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN WAY BETTER IF SOMEONE WAS AT LEAST LIKE "WOW THIS IS A PROBLEM MAYBE WE SHOULD GET THIS YOUNG GIRL SOME MEDICAL ATTENTION SHE WAS JUST ASSAULTED"
Anyways other than how that’s handled, the books good. I can’t wait for more
A Galaxy Next Door Vol. 5
This volume is about rejecting the shackles of her supernatural nobility and just accepting the mundane and it kinda rules? I was not a fan of the whole alien princess thing in the first volume but it’s all been pulled around into a story thread that makes real sense and gets wrapped up in a nice way. Shiori’s arc is so good and I’m SO glad she gets to have friends from the island now, even if she feels like she never wants to return to the place that isolated her and forced her to be a princess. It’s all good.
Also there’s another bonus chapter where chibi-chan gets to be the point of view character again AND ITS ALSO REAL GOOD dang I kinda want a spin of manga that’s about chibi chan growing up and going to college or something, and having to grow up out of her fan girl shipper mentality a lil bit that would be so good
My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! ―AO― Vol. 1
Some idiot genre pervert isekai fun. You do not need to bring your brain into this book (which is good, I was so tired when I read it)
But yeah protag-kun’s superpower is he can just tell someone to die and uhh, they just do? It’s all very stupid low-stakes bullshit when you can solve every problem caused by cartoonishly evil isekaied kids by just telling them to die. I guess as a setup it ends up being kinda similar to “no longer allowed in another world” but like, that executes this ridiculous overpowered ability waaaay better by uhh no wait just go read that instead it’s real good I promise
Asumi-chan is Interested in Lesbian Brothels! Vol. 3
Gosh dang I love this book so much, there were some real good jokes in this volume, especially the whole thing with the pacifier candy. Some really funny pages there. Im keeping up with the scans too, and things are just going to get so much hotter by volume 5 we are NOT ready for how good this is going to be
I think I turned my childhood friend into a girl Vol. 3
Still cute.
Villains Are Destined to Die Vol. 3
Dang still the best colour work in the business. The fireworks scene in the first quarter of the volume is incredible, the way light is rendered in this art style is just incredible! And dang the timing in the panels is great too? Incredible scene to read. Im not sure the plot is doing anything that special - its a villainess story - you know the beats. Its like, an 7/10 villainess manhwa but DANG the artistry power levels are so high
Love's in Sight! Vol. 2
This book continues to surprise with how good the characters are. Its one of those things that seems like its not going to be very deep but turns out has way more depth and soul that you'd have guessed. Good idiots too.
Bonus: Audiobooks
Konosuba: God's Blessing on this wonderful world! Vol. 1
Ive always found the show tedious whenever i try to watch it, which is weird because terrible isekai is my thing - this was way less annoying to me than the anime for some reason? 6/10
Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Home Alone
Terrible naming convention on this series. Probably one of the worst titles in the business.
stuff in the pile for next week
Did i read Citrus? No. Same old same old. uhh... i wanna try and read it this week... will i be too lazy to get it from the bottom of my to-read pile? Probably. Will Lotte EVER reread Citrus? find out next week
Books read this year: 251
Last weeks post
https://cohost.org/LotteMakesStuff/post/2174713-july-17th-23rd