Reading(+Watching)+Listening Log 2025.11 - November
Previous Reading(+Watching)+Listening Log 2025.10 - October
Anyone who’s not caught it yet: Jenseits der Worte a.k.a. Kemutai Hanashi's second German volume is up for preorder!
You can get this German edition from the publisher’s shop here.
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Reading languages: German, English, French, Japanese, not listing which was which. (There’s also been some meagerly continued music listening attempts at Chinese.)
Titles are, as I’ve read them, either the first or most read under, and thus I remember them for that title mostly.
Not going to bother putting in the original titles of translated reads unless there is something worthy of note to it.
Cursive titles mean the series got completed, or it was a one-shot. It may not be the last installment of the series, as I also read out of order sometimes.
Bold titles mean the ones that entertained or impressed me most.
If it says a volume number, it may mean it has been finished or is still in progress.
Some notes’ content may be subject to repetition here and there, as I also copy some older notes from casual conversations over into these logs and don’t go through any rounds of cutting things down.
I will freely use some very lunatastic terms like “cheese” and “fluff”; you can find an explanation here: Luna-Lingo.
The notes are mostly hacked down rapidly and in a stream-of-consciousness style, without exactly a lot of proofreading.
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Really short month again ...
But I actually watched some anime again! First time in who knows how long!
Bâan
Honkai: Star Rail - Rondo Across Countless Kalpas
Light Novels/Web Novels/Asian Novels:
ATLAS: Her, the Combatant, and Him, the Hero v1p1-3
An Unruly Summon v1p1-14
Cogs of Time v1p8-12
Dahlia in Bloom v11p8-12
Durarara SH LN v1
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Minor Myths and Legends v2
Lucia and the Loom: Weaving Her Way to Happiness v3
Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai v4p6-11
The Death of the Skeleton Swordsman: Dominating as a Cursed Saint v1p1-12
The Executioner and Her Way of Life v2-5
The Fearsome Witch Teaches in Another World (Light Novel) v1p1-11
The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! (Light Novel) v2p1-4
The Young Lady is the Substitute Harvest Goddess V1p1-12
A School Frozen in Time v1-4
A Side Character's Love Story ch63.2-66
An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride (Manga) v13
Boruto: Two Blue Vortex ch6-14
Coyote v3ch14
Falsche Engel, wahre Liebe? v1-4ch16
Fired? But I Maintain All the Software! (Manga) v1-2ch2
How a Single Gold Coin Can Change an Adventurer’s Life ch24.3-28.1
Living With My Brother's Wife ch104-113
Madokas Geheimnis
My Death-Defying Dog: Man’s Best Friend, World’s Best Savior v1ch11
My Not-So-Fair Lady is Doomed! (But Not If I Can Help It) ch9.3-14
The Valiant Must Fall v4-5ch48
Tokio to Nanami ch1
Zero Damage Sword Saint (Manga) v2
Closer Heartbeat ch39-49
Oh, My Darling Princess ch1-15
Courtesy - 「AMV」Fairytale - [2nd Place @Indigo Inside IC 3]
Bâan: If Henyoku no Drops/Dem Himmel zu fern from the month before has set a precedent of a short with a world that just looks interesting and has a round plot that manages to wrap up nicely, but you're not ever getting more of that world, then this one is just the same in feeling like it's a shame.
But actually I found the whole documentary of how it came to be even more interesting than the short itself. Tho the shorts themes themselves are pretty nice, too, as in being universal and that Thai-touch definitely is not something you see too often.
An Unruly Summon v1p1-14: I already thought from the contest samples that I liked this one most and as the complete thing I still do I think. It definitely has all the LN-ish JP tropes, but at the same time it feels while maybe nerd, not exactly otaku/weeb, as it throws some shades on JP/otaku culture which you don't find in that way from works from Japan like that. The author still perfectly knows their tropes though, so that makes for a refreshing spin and mix of the old trodden premises. There isn't new per see about the plot points, but it's just solidly done from beginning to end and surprisedly also quite fast paced – even the cat/mouse game of being found out that is the entire hook of the beginning surprisingly quickly ceases to be and thus also avoids the trap hole of becoming a one trick pony.
There is something funny about the contest entires I like, they all look like they are v1s and with a set up for a continuation. (I guess no wonder the second contest had two type of novels outlined) Which is nice, because it means there can be more of it ... but will it?
At least in this case this volume does a really good job of making you want to read on. So where is the elusive v2?
Cogs of Time v1p8-12: Yep, everything is set up for a continuation. Again, when is the elusive v2 to be announced?
Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai v4p6-11: Gildo is a perfect-grade, stubborn to a fault, but not violent tsundere. I was looking forward to him finally showing up. Though managing deadlines was hard this month. Just hard ...
The Death of the Skeleton Swordsman: Dominating as a Cursed Saint v1: Well, another power fantasy one, and some cheese on top, but something about this one was... how to put it? It has its heart in the right place? It's definitely nice enough for a light read in-between and compared to other recent pieces of work falling into that bracket it least a bit of a better impression.
The Executioner and Her Way of Life v2-5: Volume 1 definitely had been a whole drag and more, but after finally it picks up the pace, and the whole world of this is pretty intriguing. Also funnily enough, this series might be the closest thing, despite being something entirely else, to Fire Punch of all things. You have a post once about a really highly civilized, retrograded world, people with some special powers; a word wonky about if it was gonna survive (tho again, wholly different, no natural catastrophes there) and then in the midst of it there is a somewhat insane little movie nerd with movie knowledge from the current era in there who can't die even if she wanted to.
Unfortunately the beginning remains a hard entry imo. Miss Time is annoying, and Miss pink-haired-supporter is even more so ...
The Fearsome Witch Teaches in Another World (Light Novel) v1p1-11: Impressions from shortly after reading:
a badass fmc who can do everything. Like. everything (almost).
but it's kicking ass one after another, and there is a sense of glee to it because they deserve it.
would count as a Mary Sue but then she has a weakness for beast in heads and ears, so she's kinda like Sebastian from Black Butler but without his really annoying arrogance
in that vein she's more like Mikoto from Railgun, as in, she knows what she can do, she knows what she can't, and will put both to use, but she comes without the Teenager antics
it's pretty much cheese-free in V1, but I smell some flags for future ship developments
there is a male adult tsundere sorts of character
it has a good amount of thought put into about the magic and sorcery mechanics, but on occasion it turns a bit fantasy technobabble
The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! (Light Novel) v2p1-4: This one, meanwhile, has a bit too much thought put into the magic systems and tends to overexplain. Other than that, the MC really just comes across as a bit too elitist and obnoxious. But it's getting slightly better with finally not being continuously pissed off over being isekai'd against his will.
The Young Lady is the Substitute Harvest Goddess V1p1-12: This one I had read the sample, and aside from that, the sample was taken not from the beginning but somewhere in-between. I remembered zero about it when I started the whole volume again.
Well. It does not have, uh, the most interesting plotline, I guess. Too much system-trop gaming for me there, and unlike The Top Dungeon Farmer it lacks the buns. But Demi's liking of books, like her fixation on book that is just pretty omnipresent, sounds, uh, very familiar. And I wasn't even thinking of myself, but like, she is even just one letter short of having the same name as a certain other bookworm I know; so that just felt like a very bizarre accidential homerun mood?
So far it stayed pretty cheese-free and focused on world building and characterization; let's see how good or bad it fares for me after the obligatory male lead shows up.
A School Frozen in Time v1-4: For whatever reason I bought these thinking they were LNs rather than Manga. The premise is not too uninteresting, but overall I found it not engaging at all. The subject theme is a heavy one, and while it had interesting themes and a twist, it felt only like melodrama most of the time. Another part of it is probably is the art with switched between kinda reminding me of a weak Obata's style imatation while at some places (like the first cover) looking like Your Lie in April for obvious reasons, but surprisingly those cases were relatively pretty rare. I just didn't manage to really like any part of this.
Pretty much the only music I listened to on the occasion was the Bâan soundtrack (it is definitely a good one to let run in the background.) Other than that, the month was spent in silence again and mostly working and trying to get through the day somehow.
