Just let the geezer empty his bank account for idols, Keika.
Just let the geezer empty his bank account for idols, Keika.
finished ryuuou vols 6-10.
vol 6: Great. Ginko content is always good content, even if its suffering Ginko content. 8/10.
vol 7: Flames. Pure hot flames. Like a violently erupting volcano in your soul. 1 million percent kino. Goated. Mastapeez. Best vol by far, and thats crazy since 5 was sick af. This shit deserves to be in a LN hall of fame of god tier LN volumes. Cried proud tears of respect for based boomer shishou nonstop the last 30 pages or so. Cant believe a LN with uguu lolis on the cover would dedicate a whole volume to a boomer struggling to accept his age, and do it with this much effort, finesse and passion. So goooooood!!! 10/10
vol 8: wow I hated it. 70% of this vol is exactly what I in my prejudice thought Ryuuou would be. also confirms my growing feelings that blue Ai has been flanderized to nothing but an obnoxious cringy lolicon punchline. Marry me, fuck me, darabuchi, marry me, fuck me, darabuchi, repeat repeat repeat. I used to be able to ignore the bad parts and focus on good but there is so much bad now its getting hard. the shogi battle was mediocre too. Almost skippable tier. Wackness. 2/10
vol 9: Amazin stuff. Loved the fairytale motif. The superior red Ai always delivers, as does Ginko. Feels were had. 9/10.
vol 10: expected utter wackness from cover and color illustrations but surprisingly OK and Ginko stuff was great. 6/10, but that cliffhanger thooooo!!!
Ginko's storyline is building up to something potentially fantastic, cant wait for next vol.
First things first, welcome to the hell of waiting for new Ryuuou volume and Ginko's suffering. And desperately craving Cinderella's moments 'cuz she's sidelined so hard 90% of the time.
Second, rate afterwords.
Oh, and I disagree on vol8. Pretty much the entire lolicon crap that Kuzu has been feeding girls is from bonus stories Shiratori wrote for some magazines and shit, so, skippable shit, and it's a Machi focus volume, so I just plain disagree on that basis.
Drop the anime, switch to LN. Anime sucks.
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Wait, just watch Reika dismantle kids, then go back to LN's.
There were quite a few afterwords that really had an impact on me. The one about him visiting the room of his dead grandpa who drove him out for writing cringe LNs secretly reading his stuff and buying merch was BIG feels, definitely the most impactful one. Honestly this legit something that couldve been from the novel itself. Then came his mothers passing, that one was pretty ouch too. This dude seriously has the shittiest luck, but hey at least he got himself an IRL waifu with Ryuuou. That was cute! Cuuuute! I also really liked the one where he was too tsundere to give his heartfelt thanks to Shirabii for his fantastic illustartions face to face so he sneaked it into an afterword. It was both heartwarming and actually pretty funny. I really like Shirabii, i love his work in both Ryuuou and 86 and I occasionally scroll his twitter.
Honestly take these afterwords and you could make a compelling story out of his personal life. But the afterwords really spell out how this series means to him on a personal level, and that might be why it radiates so much intense feelings despite being about a subject matter i have zero interest in.
As for vol 8, Machi was good but didnt have enough screentime despite being on the cover. I see Machi on the cover and im like oh nice I like her, and then she has a pretty short snippet and a shogi match i felt was uncharacteristically mid. Her snippet was good though.
Yeah I noticed Ten-chan kinda dipping out of the story a lot which is a shame cause shes one of my faves, but everytime she is featured shes a showstealer so I guess in a sense I prefer her treatment over blue Ai whos always present but doesnt shine. I also think Ten-chans the only loli whose lolicon comedy is actually somewhat fun, cause its a lot more sweet and wholesome than the OMG A GRADE SCHOOLER IS BOUNCING ON MY DICK that blue Ai is involved with.
but anyways enough about that now more on my current feelings: i neeeeed vol 11. GINKOOOOOOOOO
this is kinda cringe of me considering I avoided ryuuou for the longest time but I really, really, really recommend the LNs now. Its constant high spot in various rankings is 100% deserved. I think Shiratori is master class when it comes to emotional storytelling. And Ryuuous usage of illustrations is seriously superb i think, other LNs need to take note. I love the little illustrations used in the matches that happen next to the text, and the timing for the big main illustrations is impeccable! In particular vol 10 final illustration left me gasping for air.
Didnt watch the anime myself but the anime covers 5 vols in 1 cour which is just a recipe for catastrophe. Also the authors comments were pretty much "the anime is wonderful, i love seeing the characters move... buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut *polite rant about how it sucks and the manga did a better job*". He talked about how it didnt have time to go into the inner workings of the characters because of anime pacing limitations and honestly thats a crime bigger than yaichi leching on grade schoolers because the inner workings of the charas as they play board games is the heart and soul of Ryuuou. Im gonna pull a fate drone move here: MUH MONOLOGUES!!!
Yeah, these were absolute shockers, especially about his grandpa. Shiratori's just unfair, first he starts with the ugliest lolicon jokes, then he ends with crazy serious afterwords about respect and love, filled to the brim with feels. I still don't understand how his editor allowed that, but I'm sure grateful. Shiratori just has this depth to his writing that his peers don't, and it's fascinating. Despite the damn lolicon crap. Hell, I avoid recommending Ryuuou 'cuz of it, and, uh, the very first scene of the first volume. But it's got that heat, that feverish love; sometimes it calms down and cuts deep, and then doubles down on hype and actually delivers. It's consistently great to me.
That aside, Shirabii is an absolute beast. Just when you think that Shiratori hyped the match to the roof just with his writing, Shirabii slides just in the right spots with big guns of illustrations. Elevates the book to another level.
I mean, it's not only about Machi. It continues the females' side of shogi, their struggle and how their entire career is dismissed, their efforts disregarded. I also adore that Ginko is not the only one struggling there, and not only Ryuuou's shogi family gets to do awesome stuff. It's too heavy on lolicon BS, but I liked the topic enough to make it through with positive vibes. Of course, Machi focus helped a lot, tho.
Ten-chan is the best loli out there. Even when she loses. I like to think that Kuzu and Ai compete in the weird neglect play, but it's just so tough to keep that delusion going, and when it crumbles I get depressed that she doesn't get too much spotlight while the other Ai really needs to step out more.
And damn right, need more of Ginko's suffering.
Unless it's made by a studio like Sunrise that animates mechs in 2D, I don't know if I'd want one. I still need to start volume 3.
Spoiler:
Oh. Uh. Ryuuou gets so casually dark in v11, it just took me by surprise.
Halfway through the book, halfway to go.
I just bought it couple minutes ago. Had to put it down after 3 pages and walk around my apartment doing the doushio face. ”To reclaim that girls name”. Chills after 3 pages, this boutta be too kino for me to handle.
I, well, will just echo Shirabii-sensei.
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Just saying, cuz of this book I broke my routine of hopping onto AK right on the reset.
Holy shit. Shiratori has ascended with this vol. 11 is now easily my favorite ryuuou volume, that final match shot it right past vol 7. A spiritual experience. Soul purified by raburabu and then set ablaze by hotblooded hype. Masterpiece.
definitely not a direction i expected the vol to take though, bulk of it ended up being basically a deep dive into Ginko and Yaichis relationship through the years. But good lord that served as some delicious buildup for the god tier climax. The final third of the vol is pure raw kino. So many callbacks, so many motifs, so good.
honestly by this point i think its not wrong to say that Ginko is secretly the protag of post vol 5 Ryuuou.
FUCK YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHSpoiler:
Last edited by weeblord; February 25th, 2020 at 08:23 PM.
Honestly, volume 11 redeemed most of Kuzu/Ginko interactions. They were the closest people in the world, but the thing that was connecting them - shogi - was also the one thing that separated them. Blame the adults, stiff traditions, pain and hurt that comes when one figures out that their close friend changed unknowingly to them and is suddenly a total mystery. Blame whatever you want, but, in the end, it was a story of teenagers having been burdened beyond their age, having to navigate the world using their own mistakes to guide them. Kuzuryuu may have found his answer a tad earlier, but I'm glad that Ginko finally broke through, too.
Spoiler:
Last time I checked, vol12 was #1 in monthly LN ranking of JP bookwalker, so I can't wait for it.
Last edited by R.Lock; February 26th, 2020 at 02:34 AM.
Theres so many small things packed in vol 11 that are like the culminations of stuff thats been going for a long time and its so damn satisfying. Interesting to see whats to come from here on, as this vol felt like a second story climax (first being vol 5).
The cover of next volume is absolutely god tier at the very least. also seems like besides Ginko, ten-chan will be back in action as well. Yes please. Ginko and Ten-chan are definite seals of high quality content.
86 vol 4 was great as usual. The mystery behind the legion keeps getting spicier (and creepier).
Combat Baker v1.
It's written adequately, but the intrigue is not quite there to convince to continue past the free volume. Romance is...not the strongest point of the book, in my eyes, and, while the author tries to use war crimes as foundation for the characters' backstories, the characters themselves aren't deep enough to make any use of it. I can definitely sympathise with what the author tried to do, but SOW doesn't quite deliver. 5/10 as a story, 7/10 as an LN.
Decided to read volume 1 of bookworm since it was available for free for the month. I understand why people said Myne was toned down in the adaptations, but even with her selfishness she wasn't that bad at the beginning. Its nice to see a lot more of the info that was cut (particularly her past life as neither the anime nor the manga actually explained how Myne ended up being crushed by books). And this childhood friend from her past life, I wonder if he'll be relevant in some capacity later since I saw what I assume to be his silhouette in the anime's second op
A single tear ran down my cheek as i read dendrogram v11 afterword and the author is all excited about the anime starting soon. Oh you sweet summer child, you know nothing....