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Familiar Diversions

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

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How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 1
Dojyomaru, Fuyuyuki, Sean McCann
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Jeff Lindsay
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Mary Downing Hahn
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Avery Flynn
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T. Kingfisher
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Tara Westover
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My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 2
Satoru Yamaguchi, Nami Hidaka
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MK Czerwiec, Kimberly R. Myers, Scott T. Smith, Michael J. Green, Susan Merrill Squier, Ian Williams
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How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 1 - Dojyomaru, Fuyuyuki, Sean McCann
Heart Change - Robin D. Owens
The Saga of Tanya the Evil, Vol. 1 - Carlo Collodi, Emily Balistrieri, Kevin Steinbach

Arisa (manga, vol. 10) by Natsumi Ando, translated by Ben Applegate

8:05 pm 9 December 2017
Arisa, Vol. 10 - Natsumi Ando, Andria Cheng

Midori arranges for Tsubasa

to be killed by an explosion in Rei's house, but Rei saves Tsubasa because they both care for Arisa, and he wants Arisa to be saved. Arisa sneaks into the hospital to see Rei (and Akira? my notes are confusing). Tsubasa finally learns more about what happened between Arisa and Midori: Arisa was the King, at first, but got depressed because everyone had started complaining that the King only granted easy wishes. She couldn't bring herself to grant a wish with a stolen test answer sheet, so Midori took care of this wish in her place. Then, when she was sad that her mom had chosen to go on a trip on her birthday instead of staying with her, Midori pushed her mom so she'd break a bone and have to stay at home. Despite all of this, Arisa says she's going to stay with Midori on her own.

(show spoiler)


This volume made me so angry. I hate all of these characters. Hate them.

First, Tsubasa and Arisa's mom.

"You really are boring." WTF kind of mother says this to her child? I can't believe that stupid story about Arisa and Tsubasa's mom preferring Tsubasa was actually true.

(show spoiler)


Next, Arisa. I understand that she

felt abandoned by her mom, who seemed to prefer to be anywhere but with her daughter. However, that wasn't a good justification for her decision not to tell anybody about what Midori was doing. The volume with the flashback to Tsubasa and Arisa running away when they were younger showed that Arisa was capable of going against even her own twin when she felt it was necessary, so why didn't she tell anybody about Midori's actions? She could have stopped everything early on, and yet she chose not to. And ugh, the wish. She knows Midori is capable of killing people, so why did she wish for the King to get rid of her?


Like Arisa, Midori felt abandoned by his mother, who literally left him. And again, that isn't a good excuse for what he did. I'm probably supposed to feel more sympathy for him than I do.

(show spoiler)

 

 

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

mystery thriller Manga Natsumi Ando Ben Applegate arisa
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