Nanako Tsujimura

This is possibly the most difficult of the volumes to review thus far, because it's such a mixed bag of a novel, with high highs and low lows. It lands somewhere on a 3.5 rather than 4 because 4/5 of the stories really aren't all that good or good at all, and the fifth, which is far and away the best for a lot of reasons, has its own issues.

I honestly forgot for a time that there's an extra story at the story of this, the story is that unremarkable. I believe it's backstory for a character we've met (not Richard), or otherwise just completely random. It's not bad, exactly, it just felt like a waste of time.

The second story has a really neat core concept - dealing with Japanese-Dominicans - but is overall written incredibly badly and doesn't make any sense. You could write a really good story with that, and maybe it works a lot better in Japanese. As translated here, I kept being confused why any of this mattered, or how anyone here was coming to the conclusions they were. It's also just a boring story, overall.

The third story involves Seigi's stupidity/cluelessness (I think, at a certain point, it becomes stupidity) is ramped up to 1000, even more so than the past, and is thus pretty dumb. What was worse is that I'd hoped it was merely Seigi misunderstanding things and that'd be simple to wave off... but no, his ridiculous assumptions based on literally nothing at all (that were kind of sexist) turned out to be true. It was also extremely weird, given what we know about him and what we learn in story 5, that he would essentially pressure what, for all intents and purposes, looks like a victim of stalking to talk to her stalker. It's just gross on so many levels, even if it turned out to be okay. It's just a bad story all around.

The fourth story is by and large forgettable. It's nice to finally lay to rest Seigi's love interest in Tanimoto, and for Tanimoto to explain to Richard how much Richard hurt Seigi, but the entire thing with the phantom jewel thief was so incredibly stupid. Accurate for something high schoolers would do, but stupid. The story was generally boring.

The last story is the one I've been waiting on for ages, since it's one of the last stories in the anime adaptation, and one of my favorites: where Seigi's biological father comes calling. Because it's given more time in the novel, it's built up a bit more, and you get more details on it. I didn't particularly feel like it was sudden in the anime, but it is definitely a bit smoother here. All in all, it's a very good story with some great angst, and Seigi gets showered with love, affection, and support, and Richard confesses that he loves Seigi a lot, and Seigi accidentally proposes, but of course walks it back. Just a lot of good stuff. That being said, there's a core message I have an issue with, which isn't unusual in a series and particularly a novel wherein Richard in particular just makes bad moralistic stories and honestly gives outright bad advice in terms of the heart: Richard tells Seigi that if he cannot treat himself with kindness, then he will never be able to treat others with kindness. This kind of advice is well-intended in the sense that the people we love typically don't want us to hurt ourselves, and see our attacking ourselves as an attack on THEM, because we matter to them. And when someone you love is struggling, you reach for anything you can to help them. But it's also incredibly stupid advice that's kind of ableist and gross. You can be compassionate to others while hating yourself. It's sad, but it happens. That doesn't mean it's right, but it doesn't mean it's impossible to be kind if you hate yourself. It can take forever to like who you are and to stop hurting yourself, but saying you can't be a decent human being to others before you do is so dumb. Heck, sometimes, being nice to others is a way to be kind to yourself. There are issues with that, too, in certain contexts, but it's still true. Richard has a lot of other ways of tackling what Seigi says, which are generally good, and that's great. But this one was so heavily emphasized that it's bad. I also don't know how I feel with the whole "you're bigoted because you think that you, and by extension anyone else in your situation, will become a domestic abuser". Yes, Seigi is wrong to think that statistics will decide his fate. I don't feel like that was that answer. And I don't know if it's intentionally in character for Richard to give weird and kind of bad advice, or narratively it's meant to be good advice. Because while yes, it cuts at the idea of "is that what you think of other people in that situation?" does speak to something true there, it's not exactly the issue.

All in all, it's a messy thing. The story itself generally makes up for it by having a lot of good stuff for Seigi happening, and by giving him support, and the cute stuff between him and Richard. Seigi deserves the good things, even if he's an idiot a lot and has some sexism he really needs to deal with.

Also, the Seven Seas English edition of this had a lot of typos.

All in all, this novel is a mixed bag, but also contains one of the best stories in the series thus far. There are some lovely moments with Seigi and Richard in particular, even in the boring and bad stories. I can't say I recommend the novel, but it's about on par if slightly better than others in the series.… (més)

This volume was a lot better than volume 3, and covers the England arc. It still has its issues, and a small number of bad typos, but all in all the story is a lot more fun, possibly largely because Seigi is ill for a lot of it and his struggles and Richard caring for him are very fun. It's also very sweet how much he and Richard explain how much they love each other. And Seigi's self-sacrificing nature is just so sad and sweet.

I appreciated Richard trying to address Seigi's low self-esteem as made manifest by his need to be useful to the people he cares about. Seigi's mental health is a fun topic to explore, and I look forward to see where it goes, particularly with what I've seen in the anime.

I can't say I recommend this to anyone who doesn't already like the anime, or who doesn't already like the light novel series. It's still not particularly well-written, at least in English, but if you're committed to Seigi/Richard and enjoy learning a lot of stuff about gemstones, this is the book for you.… (més)

This is more of a 3.5 than a 4 star, because the book is quite frankly not good. Of the first three volumes, it's debatably the worst, which is saying something.

The stories in this volume, up to the end, are largely boring and unremarkable. For some reason this series continues to be a weirdly compelling boring series, mostly driven by the relationship between Seigi and Richard, both of whom make very weird and meaningless remarks about life and people that are meant to sound deep but actually aren't. None of the extra characters in this volume are particularly remarkable, either. The undercover story is actually worse than its adaptation in the anime, because at least the anime has pretty art to stare at. In novel form, it's just kind of painfully bad.

That being said, it's very clear that Richard cares deeply for Seigi, and Seigi repeatedly realizes he is far more deeply... in like or whatever with Richard in return. This volume marks an increase in people thinking they're a couple, and being more open about how obviously they ARE a couple, with Seigi repeatedly realizing that's what people think. It's also the start of the England arc, so that's something, and I assume volume 4 will be that full arc. We also learn that Richard was in a past romantic relationship with a man. So if you want some m/m in this boy's love-ish story, yes, that is still here.

I'm of two ways with Tanimoto's aceness. On the one hand, asexuality is a spectrum, and how one person deals with it is likely not the same as how other people deal with it. I think Tanimoto is asexual and aromantic, but I imagine that living in Japan she doesn't have the best access to information on asexuality, and doesn't seem like the type of person to go looking for information, say, online, to learn more about it. With that in mind, her characterization makes sense, particularly given she doesn't seem to surround herself with people who know anything about asexuality. The nearest known queer person in her life isn't even really an acquaintance of hers: Richard. And his knowledge of asexuality is kind of... off. I will say that asexual people can fall in love, be in romantic and/or sexual relationships with other people, and do get married, and not just for convenience but also sometimes for affection on some level. So Tanimoto choosing to get married, and maybe even leaving herself open to fall in love with someone some day, is not out of line.

I have no idea how up to speed Tsujimura is on handling ace characters, nor do I know if Tsujimura is ace, though Seigi has repeatedly danced around aceness, bisexuality, and pansexuality, so I think Tsujimura does know SOME things. That being said, authors who write queer relationships who are not ace themselves often run into lack of knowledge issues on what asexuality is, and treating ace people as "people who just haven't found the right person yet" is a common acephobic stereotype. Richard's emphasis on Seigi not respecting Tanimoto's boundaries and pushing his love onto her, is not a good sign. But as a queer man who is seemingly not ace, it could just be in line with his lack of understanding of asexuality, and his insistence that Seigi is just using him as a substitute for Tanimoto, with a desire to end things between them before Richard is too far gone in his affection and eventually runs into the Horrible Future where Seigi admits to not actually liking him (an imagined outcome based on a previous lover leaving him for HIS imagined outcome of their future). Much as Richard does try to be compassionate generally, as Richard doesn't know Tanimoto, her being collateral damage in his crisis is not that surprising.

So all in all, the complicated character relationships and representations make sense. They are difficult to read, and often painful, but they do make sense. I wouldn't outright say the book is acephobic, and I certainly wouldn't say Tsujimura is acephobic. I don't think any of the people around Tanimoto handle her aceness well, save Seigi before he's talked out of it by Richard. I even think Seigi's last conversation with her wasn't entirely a terrible thing... if Seigi had more nuance to how asexuality can work, so his speech was less "you might still find someone you like" and more "as an ace person, you can still find people you like someday".

On the other hand, I could wave this off, and say a complicated subject was handled in all the stereotypical acephobic ways. I do feel bad for Tanimoto, and hope someone who knows what they're talking about gets in touch with her at some point, and she's not subject to the whims of people who largely don't have her best interests at heart. Or maybe she'll Google asexuality at some point. I would find Richard's reaction weird... if it didn't make sense based on his backstory and relationship with Seigi and largely lack of a relationship with Tanimoto. Seigi was largely supportive, even to the end. Yes, he's an idiot, but he's a respectful one.

I don't honestly remember how this is handled in the anime. I think I had some issues with it there, too. As it is here... it's fine. It doesn't make for a particularly interesting read because most of the cast is incredibly boring. I've read more interesting plots with asexual characters dealing with folks who aren't ace, and asexual characters navigating romantic and/or sex lives. It is fascinating in the sense that I haven't read many stories with asexual female characters. And as far as the few of those I know of, this handles it, depending on your view, a little better.

I also wonder if the undercover scam jeweler story involves an "Adventure Time" reference with "Master Edward Baxter" who uses his powers "to bring happiness and good fortune to all." It's kind of cute if so, and seems doubly possible since Richard is blonde and James Baxter the horse is a golden/yellow horse. I kind of hate AT so it's kind of lost on me, but still, cute. More appreciate for famous animation master, James Baxter, always appreciated if intentional.

All in all... there are, as usual, good and bad things in this volume. There were fewer typos that I caught than volume 2, but I think at least two. There are still no illustrations outside the cover art (which is pretty). It's again weirdly compelling, so if you watched the anime and want more, this is indeed here to take up some time. I guess I'll give the manga another shot while I wait for volume 4.… (més)

Overall it's one of the better light novels I've read, though it's still a difficult read, and probably more difficult if you haven't seen the anime or read the manga. Although this is the fullest version of the story, as it's where everything began, and the manga and anime shave a lot out due to adaptation requirements and probably censorship reasons, and there is value there, I would have been bored out of my mind with this if I hadn't at least seen the anime first.

For starters, Seigi is kind of an idiot. He's not entirely stupid, but in many ways he's quite naive and fairly clueless, which can make him incredibly rude. There is a reason for some of that, and a big part of his character is just learning things, but if you're not already used to it, it can be hard to read through. His character was one reason I dropped the anime for a time, but after I went back, I liked him, and it's that strength that let me push through this volume, which is that, but ramped up a lot. He does a lot of growing, even in this volume, and I don't know how the novels handle what comes later, but I do think, at least judging by the anime, it's worth pushing through for.

Second, and perhaps majorly, I imagine Tsujimura just really likes gemstones. And I love that they got the chance to write a whole series about it. Goals, honestly. And some of it is certainly informative. It's also incredibly boring and infodumpy the majority of the time. At least in the manga or anime, you have the art to look at while hearing a multipage explanation about [insert gemstone]. I was also curious why blood diamonds never came up in the history of diamonds, or how the diamond market being artificially inflated isn't an old-fashioned phenomena. It's sort of touched on in the way Richard notes that current diamond owners don't want to explain the scam and lose out on money, but it's not explained to the point that current diamond markets are incredibly manufactured in value, perhaps worse than they used to be. I can't recall if the blood diamond thing comes out later, but I hope it does, because it's kind of an egregious gap in this mini textbook on gemology. Like I assumed that's why Richard doesn't really handle them, but he doesn't explain it. This might be related to a late story spoiler instead, but it was an odd little plot hole, at least to me.

I do love seeing all the stuff that was unfortunately removed from the anime and even the manga, which didn't remove as much as the anime. There's a lot of neat stories here, and it's queer in a way the anime isn't, whether it's Seigi repeatedly talking about how beautiful Richard is and noting that you can find someone beautiful without being attracted to them in a way that feels very demi-ace, or the lesbian story, or Richard's frequent frustrations with I assume Seigi being too sincerely sweet in his clueless way. It's all in all quite wonderful.

I can't say I actually found any of the "life lessons" about gemstones that deep or enlightening, perhaps because of what "I" know about gemstones, and my lack of interest in ever owning any of the expensive ones myself (though I have collected a few samples of the cheaper ones). The lessons seemed kind of trite and unenjoyably cliche at best (and I'm chill with a good cliche, but this didn't work... multiple times). But Seigi's sincerity and Richard's openness and him generally as a character were quite enough to get through it. Though I really didn't get the obsession with the Jaguar. Maybe it's a thing only people who like cars care about? A car is a car to me.

The writing itself can also be awkward, and I found a few typos in the Seven Seas translation. Overall it's generally less awkward than other light novels I've seen.

Also, unlike other light novels I've read, this had no internal illustrations. There's the book cover, and that's it.

Generally speaking, it's a good addition if you liked the manga and/or the anime, and worth the read because of the stuff they took out of the two adaptations. I can't say it's a good starting place if you're completely new to the series.… (més)