I'm a librarian who loves anime, manga, and reading a wide variety of genres.
Well, I'm done. This barely squeaks into the $3 range, bringing my Booklikesopoly total to $34. Can I make it to at least $50? We'll see...
Although I admit the anime was confusing as heck the first time around, I really enjoyed it. I had originally hoped that reading the books the series was based on would add another level to my enjoyment. The first book was fun enough, despite the terrible writing, and I'm looking forward to getting to the point where the anime was left behind (Book 4? or Book 5?). But man, Volume 2. This time around the bad writing actually did interfere with my enjoyment, and it didn't help that Narita chose a confusing way to tell this portion of the story. All of the fantasy elements that could have been present in this volume as part of a big, climactic reveal were instead saved for Volume 3, something I only know because I watched the anime and know where all of this is going.
I'm reminded of this article about a Japanese editor who blasted the light novel publishing industry for being filled with authors who just plain can't write. “The version they put out on the Internet was the result of them using every last bit of their skills, and there’s no way they can do any better.” Ouch.