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When I picked up the eighth regular volume of Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki from where I’d had it waiting, it was with a bit of a “now to get to something I ought to like” feeling. Having just finished the thirteenth regular (and, as I understand, the penultimate) volume of My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong, As I Expected reading one nibble at a time might have complicated things. Just what accounts for my different levels of engagement with these two translated-from-Japanese “light novel” series does leave me grappling with uneasy uncertainties; the best I could hope for, I suppose, was that this new book would wash them away for the moment.
As it turned out, I did read this new novel in much bigger bites than I’d managed with the just-previous volume from a different series. There was something satisfying about seeing the bit-by-bit improvement over previous instalments had got Tomozaki to a point of increased self-confidence (even if his little sister still isn’t impressed with him at the very start of this volume). With Aoi Hinami’s “mid-range goal” of Tomozaki getting a girlfriend achieved, a new waypoint of “be the central figure in a group of at least four people” seemed a bit less eyebrow-raising to me, and restating the “big goal” as “reach Aoi’s status” got it sticking in my mind now. For all the feelings of “Tomozaki has improved and feels better about himself,” though, complications did set in.
I’d managed to comment on the previous volume without ever quite saying just who Tomozaki’s girlfriend wound up being, and that despite my positive feelings about that volume including a bit of “things seemed to match what even I’d managed to notice before” rather than “I was surprised, but liked that surprise.” I have to admit a certain number of thoughts had come to mind that if “Tomozaki seems smitten with Fuka Kikuchi’s presence” had wound up amounting to “just that, and not something more,” Kikuchi would have just sort of faded out of the story. However, that first sense of disconnection between Kikuchi and all the other characters could have led into problems as Tomozaki tried to schedule get-togethers with a few friends.
Those other characters do get some interesting development; I had wondered just what would happen to Minami after losing out in the previous volume (and getting her own “alternative universe spinoff” manga, with her family situation from it briefly acknowledged here), but she’s continuing to show up and bouncing back at least on the surface, including exclaiming “When we’re married, I’ll have you bake me things every day!” as it’s established Tama’s family runs a bakery. (Tama just says “I’m not getting married.”) Everyone has begun feeling out their post-high school plans. Aoi’s do happen to be more detailed than anyone else’s, including getting into the top university in Japan; she also adds “I know I’ll have to get married at some point, but of course, I don’t view that as my goal.” Before explaining all of that to Tomozaki in any case, she’d accompanied him to an “offline meetup” of players of the fighting video game that had got everything started. Tomozaki is now intent on matching Aoi’s schemes for his self-improvement (so that his continuing to best her at the game isn’t “the only thing he’s bothered to get good at”) with “getting her to actually enjoy more of life” (beyond the game and eating cheese). It had caught my eye that there were two pages at the start of this volume setting down some of the game mechanics, but despite my own experience with fighting video games of the sort I understand the book’s to be topping out around Karateka in Apple II emulation the extended descriptions in this volume were easy enough to to follow and kind of interesting too.
People at the meetup being impressed with Tomozaki’s improved appearance somehow matching his prowess in the game did get my attention. However, he also happens to meet a young woman wearing a snug outfit described in a good bit of detail, as if setting down just what Fly’s to draw, and Rena winds up causing enough trouble, as if inspired by Tomozaki’s insistences Aoi isn’t his girlfriend despite them showing up together, for things to end on a cliffhanger. After finishing the previous volume I’d felt good enough to look for a second opinion only to see insistences there was a “obvious” final arrangement of characters I hadn’t really thought of myself, and that despite Kikuchi struggling with that impression herself before Tomozaki managed to talk her out of it. What’ll unfold from this moment does have me guessing; however, I have already noticed the next scheduled volume amounts to more short stories, so I suppose the resolution will have to wait for that much longer.
As it turned out, I did read this new novel in much bigger bites than I’d managed with the just-previous volume from a different series. There was something satisfying about seeing the bit-by-bit improvement over previous instalments had got Tomozaki to a point of increased self-confidence (even if his little sister still isn’t impressed with him at the very start of this volume). With Aoi Hinami’s “mid-range goal” of Tomozaki getting a girlfriend achieved, a new waypoint of “be the central figure in a group of at least four people” seemed a bit less eyebrow-raising to me, and restating the “big goal” as “reach Aoi’s status” got it sticking in my mind now. For all the feelings of “Tomozaki has improved and feels better about himself,” though, complications did set in.
I’d managed to comment on the previous volume without ever quite saying just who Tomozaki’s girlfriend wound up being, and that despite my positive feelings about that volume including a bit of “things seemed to match what even I’d managed to notice before” rather than “I was surprised, but liked that surprise.” I have to admit a certain number of thoughts had come to mind that if “Tomozaki seems smitten with Fuka Kikuchi’s presence” had wound up amounting to “just that, and not something more,” Kikuchi would have just sort of faded out of the story. However, that first sense of disconnection between Kikuchi and all the other characters could have led into problems as Tomozaki tried to schedule get-togethers with a few friends.
Those other characters do get some interesting development; I had wondered just what would happen to Minami after losing out in the previous volume (and getting her own “alternative universe spinoff” manga, with her family situation from it briefly acknowledged here), but she’s continuing to show up and bouncing back at least on the surface, including exclaiming “When we’re married, I’ll have you bake me things every day!” as it’s established Tama’s family runs a bakery. (Tama just says “I’m not getting married.”) Everyone has begun feeling out their post-high school plans. Aoi’s do happen to be more detailed than anyone else’s, including getting into the top university in Japan; she also adds “I know I’ll have to get married at some point, but of course, I don’t view that as my goal.” Before explaining all of that to Tomozaki in any case, she’d accompanied him to an “offline meetup” of players of the fighting video game that had got everything started. Tomozaki is now intent on matching Aoi’s schemes for his self-improvement (so that his continuing to best her at the game isn’t “the only thing he’s bothered to get good at”) with “getting her to actually enjoy more of life” (beyond the game and eating cheese). It had caught my eye that there were two pages at the start of this volume setting down some of the game mechanics, but despite my own experience with fighting video games of the sort I understand the book’s to be topping out around Karateka in Apple II emulation the extended descriptions in this volume were easy enough to to follow and kind of interesting too.
People at the meetup being impressed with Tomozaki’s improved appearance somehow matching his prowess in the game did get my attention. However, he also happens to meet a young woman wearing a snug outfit described in a good bit of detail, as if setting down just what Fly’s to draw, and Rena winds up causing enough trouble, as if inspired by Tomozaki’s insistences Aoi isn’t his girlfriend despite them showing up together, for things to end on a cliffhanger. After finishing the previous volume I’d felt good enough to look for a second opinion only to see insistences there was a “obvious” final arrangement of characters I hadn’t really thought of myself, and that despite Kikuchi struggling with that impression herself before Tomozaki managed to talk her out of it. What’ll unfold from this moment does have me guessing; however, I have already noticed the next scheduled volume amounts to more short stories, so I suppose the resolution will have to wait for that much longer.