I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World, Too, Vol. 1 - I was in the mood for something shitty and I remembered that I disliked the anime of this series. And oh boy, did this series deliver: if shitty you want, it’s shitty you get. Seriously, it was hard getting even through the prologue. The type where MC’s parents criminally neglect him as a little kid Cinderella style and mean kindergartner gangs are beating him up because he’s pudgy. In general, everyone around him is sadistic and tortures MC with the only exception being his grandfather who dies and MC now inherits his house, which is a convenient setup for MC to live alone in a house as a middle schooler. #justMCthings. Anyway, a few chapters later, MC now starting high school spent his cheat ability points in the isekai world and is now about 8000x more athletic as his previous pudgy self (his initial stats were 1 across the board and now he’s in the 8000 range). He basically beefed up to the extreme and had to get new clothes and everything but when everyone is looking at him he is convinced that it’s just because he is fat. It’s like “oh look at my rock-hard abs and how my clothes aren’t fitting anymore and don’t forget my mega huge junk (<- no joke)” and a chapter later he goes “Oh no, I’m so fat that everyone is looking down on me”. Oblivious and a full-on victim complex - just what I love in my main characters.

I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World, Too, Vol. 2 - Yes, second volume. I’m in my self-hate phase and don’t deserve good books. It’s the only explanation. Anyway, at the end of volume 1, he picks up a sumo-ringer gang member with one hand, juggles him a bit, and then throws him several meters away. In chapter 1 of this volume, he gets a sword as an item drop and the description reads “someone with average strength cannot even lift it”. MC is completely baffled how someone as pathetic as him can lift it then. What the fuck does he think “average strength” is. And it’s not even written in a funny “ha ha look at how oblivious MC is” parody type of way. No, this entire series lacks complete self-awareness. MC is not somewhere on the autistic scale, he is the scale. All of it. It’s an achievement. Another example? Sure why not: he wonders why he gets so many rare item drops. In the first volume he literally spells it out and from then on explicitly puts most of his stat points into his luck stat because it affects item drops. “Oh let’s put all my stat points into item drops because that makes item drops better” -> “Gosh jolly, I really wonder why I get all those rare item drops. It’s really beyond me…”. The chunii wish fulfillment is also getting more extreme. MC is literally what a pre-pubescent kid would dream up what a “cool guy” would be. “Wow, he lives alone and he is super strong and, and when he walks through the mall he gets asked to model for a photoshoot and he always wins at crane game and every girl loves him, the guys want to be him and his hot, female teacher want to marry him and presses her hihihihihi breast against his arm when they link arms huehuehuehehehe, I said breasts!”.

Tearmoon Empire: Volume 14 - The translator seems to have found their step since the translation didn’t stick out negatively even when being conscious about it. This volume was more of the usual Mushoomancer Mia shenanigans. There’s one part that I didn’t like when something happens to little kids but it is resolved very quickly so I let it slide.

Dagashi-ya Yahagi: Setting Up a Sweets Shop in Another World: Volume 3 - this time there’s a robot fight tournament and a huge metal dinosaur that needs to be revived by jolting it with the mana of a lightning strike (taking exactly 1.21 jigomatts of mana ;) ). It’s an entertaining series even though the weaknesses of the past volumes didn’t improve. There is still just the right item added to the store two sentences before it is needed.

I’m continuing on my journey through Ascendance of a Bookworm. I’ve finished Volume 2 Part 1 and am about 3/4ths of the way through Part 2. It has been every bit as enjoyable as I expected it to be, even if the art isn’t as good as Llo’s (kidding).

I think the most surprising things for me are the differences between the anime and the book. The anime does a pretty good job of hitting all the main plot points but the amount of extra details in the book are so cool! For instance, the anime barely shows you how bad the orphanage is prior to Myne’s arrival whereas in the book you get to really feel how abysmally terrifying it had become. Additionally there are a lot more inventions Myne creates in the book that you never see in the anime. And I always thought Delia was an interesting character but she’s quickly become a dark-horse favorite of mine. Finally, High Priest Ferdinand shows a lot more emotion in the book when speaking privately with Myne. I feel like in the anime he was always stoic even in private but when she hands him the book that was a great moment. Speaking of book and inventions, the book process was very different from the anime as well!

There have been so many differences that it honestly feels like I’m reading “Ascendance of a Bookworm: Extended Director’s Cut”. Also Myne’s “Bwah?” is becoming as endearing as Fran’s “Hmm” and I like that.