Aphantasia and the Series That Made Me Wanna Read Books Again: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System
It's a bit of a long post and I apologize in advance for that.
As a child, I really enjoyed reading books of all kinda. I was a prolific reader in elementary school but that was ages ago now, as I'm in my mid thirties now. Back then, my imagination was vast and I had a proper mind's eye. But…as I grew up I lost that somewhere. I lost my mind's eye and thus the thrill of books waned heavily. I couldn't imagine things anymore. I couldn't see anything but blackness when I closed my eyes. And so I generally stopped being interested in books.
I'm a visual person so being unable to visualize things in a story is hindering for me grasping or enjoying things. So I generally wanted to enjoy things like Manga or Anime, stuff I could visualize. Even in fan spaces, I mostly enjoy comics and art…
But I recently got into LMK, which in turn got me more into Chinese stuff in general and I visited a book store and looked around…that's when I first saw this series and got intrigued. I stewed on it for a few months before going to my local library and thankfully they had the series. Missing the 4th and final volume but still.
I checked it out and…expected to just kinda not be able to get into it like all the other books I've tried. But…something clicked and I think I know why. It wasn't just text and a cover. It had little art work pages in there accenting the story and showing me the characters. Giving me something to latch onto. It had helpful guides on pronunciation and even character artwork. It was…something I adored.
Scum Villain is a very fun read and I love it dearly. Even months after reading the whole series through my local library, I found myself wanting to reread it, and that's super super rare for me even with Manga. So…I went to a bookstore to try and get it…and found they didn't have it. It upset me but for the first time in a long time…I wanted to take a chance on reading something else in this genre.
I bought the first volume of "Dinghai Fusheng Records" and I'm not going to lie, the artwork pages are the main reason why….but I'm reading. I'm wanting to explore written media again. And…I owe it all to Scum Villain.
I'd appreciate series recommendations. And I thank the author of that series, Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, for getting me back into reading.