For the third week of this summer reading program, we will discuss the final act of Kagerou Daze (volume 1) and Mimizuku and the King of Night.
As a reminder, if you are (for example) familiar with later events in Kagerou Daze (e.g. via the manga or anime) please refrain from posting spoilers.
I’ll try to keep my thoughts short this week, as I’ll likely be writing reviews for these novels at some point.
Kagerou Daze
The third story of this volume continued things with Momo as the viewpoint character, which took me a bit by surprise at first. It made sense in the end though, as it turned out this was largely a retelling of the events in the first story, but this time following Momo and the Mekakushi gang. All in all it was a fun little romp.
Discussion Points
What did you think of this final story? Did it tie everything in this volume well enough for you?
General impressions of the volume as a whole? Thoughts on the cliffhanger/sequel bait?
Favorite scene? Favorite character? Where do you think the series will go from here?
Kagerou Daze was one of the top-selling light novel series in Japan last year. What do you think is its appeal? In what ways does it resonate with its target audience?
Mimizuku and the King of Night
The last two chapters of this tale moved along at a nice pace, and I felt satisfied with the way everything played out in the end. All in all I really liked this story, and can see why it won awards in Japan when it was first released.
Discussion Points
Did the story end in a way you expected? Anything you wish happened differently?
Does Mimizuku “belong” in the world of monsters? What is it that ultimately draws her back?
What are your thoughts on the book as a whole? Is it similar to any other titles you’ve read?
What reason do you feel is there for the general conflict between the human and monster lands? How do you think relations will fare from this point on in the world of this story?
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As mentioned before, feel free to discuss any point you would like to bring up about either (or both) of these two books. General impressions, predictions for how the stories will play out, some compare/contrast between the two books, or any random observations and things you'd like to analyze are all fair game.