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Familiar Diversions

I'm a librarian who loves anime, manga, and reading a wide variety of genres.

Currently reading

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 1
Dojyomaru, Fuyuyuki, Sean McCann
Progress: 103/374 pages
Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Jeff Lindsay
Progress: 424/470 minutes
Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story
Mary Downing Hahn
Progress: 184/184 pages
Parental Guidance
Avery Flynn
Progress: 40 %
An Offer From a Gentleman
Julia Quinn
Progress: 102/358 pages
The Twisted Ones
T. Kingfisher
Progress: 385/385 pages
Educated
Tara Westover
Progress: 315/730 minutes
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 2
Satoru Yamaguchi, Nami Hidaka
Progress: 24/171 pages
Graphic Medicine Manifesto
MK Czerwiec, Kimberly R. Myers, Scott T. Smith, Michael J. Green, Susan Merrill Squier, Ian Williams
Progress: 26/172 pages
Ao Oni: Mutation
Kenji Kuroda, Karin Suzuragi, Alexander Keller-Nelson
Progress: 30/152 pages

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun (manga, vol. 5) by Izumi Tsubaki, translated by Leighann Harvey

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 5 - Izumi Tsubaki

Sakura tries to be more appealing to Nozaki but just ends up behaving worrisomely. Kashima loses her voice and has others read her words for her, Mayu (Nozaki's little brother, who, judging by a quick image search, everyone ships with Mikoshiba) tries to depict judo moves using cute/hot girls from Mikoshiba's manga collection, Nozaki has to try to come up with something cute to put on merchandise for his series, Wakamatsu thinks Kashima is Seo's hot boyfriend (and maybe two-timing Sakura), everybody goes to the beach and all the guys lose their swim trunks because of Seo, and then there's a bit about manga cover illustration. Oh, and we get a flashback to Sakura's love for Nozaki before the start of the manga, plus how they met.

Eh, it was okay. The swim trunks bit really made me laugh, though. "I based Mamiko's expressions on Mikoshiba's. It was the perfect mix of despair!" Oh, Nozaki. Anything and everything is fodder for his manga.

I also really liked the bit about manga cover illustration. This series is really at its best when the humor is directly related to manga creation. I felt a bit bad for Mamiko, who was

stuck putting tanuki on her covers even though Maeno isn't her editor for those, just because people thought she's the one who likes them.

(show spoiler)


The bit about Mayu trying to illustrate judo moves made me wonder if he might get added to Nozaki's roster of assistants. Probably not, since he's so utterly lazy, but he seemed to have enough talent to be useful.

 

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)