Just like the first volume, this one is basically throwing a bunch of weirdos into one room and watching what happens. A slice of life that's in no way calming but definitely a lot of fun.

My favourite story was the one with the head model. Just a bunch of people totally misunderstanding what's going on and it's all spiraling out of control because none of them have any common sense installed. A bunch of dunces you can't help but love.

@Geezer-Weasalopes said in This Art Club Has a Problem! Vol 2 Discussion:

The mask certainly seemed sus; that's not the typical face mask you see in images from Japan pre-Pandemic.

And in the end we never even learned what the mask was all about.

Oh, Hades Yes! I've been waiting to reach this. The best part is here, and the anime has also caught up to it.
Welcome to my bedchamber (said the spider to the fly or in this case the dragon to Will). It's such a great line that's just like a hungry wolf staring at a frightened rabbit.

@Alex232 Yes, she's formidable in her own way. However, I am sure she will eventually be added to Zenos' harem along with the rest of the female individuals. The only question is: how large will it eventually be?

Reading the final three chapters in one go was nice.

Having them underreport your accomplishments so you get transferred away from the front is not something a gloryhound would do.
Doesn't have that much effect if you're a trouble magnet.

An individual might be stronger than another, but that doesn't mean they're more effective as part of a group or even individually; strength isn't everything.
Smarts, the ability to make correct judgement calls, to work with others without rubbing them wrong to no benefit...

Volume 4 - Chapter 5:

Page 29 ► Bottom-left Box ► I USE TO FANTASIZE ABOUT IT [...] ► It should be USED.

Lefi was extra cute in this chapter!

@Zerio
We really don't know, Iori might not even be an explorer as we don't have any reference for her or the guy. She could just easily be an investigator or auditor for the government. After all no one else has been able to auction off orbs. With the design of the jacket, could be JDSF, JDA, PSB, JTA, or even an entity made up for the series. Could be a special investigator unit specifically for dungeon matters.

spoiler

The Beast King really is the worst.

It's fun to see all of this illustrated, especially watching the Duke visualize Bilegga next to Albrea as she talks.

@b-scot-morgan

It’s explained in the extra page at the end - he can have them out while sleeping, but he won’t gain XP that way so it’s sort of a waste of time

@arghc said in The Invincible Little Lady (Manga) Vol 1 Discussion:

Being impaled through the heart by the word balloon was a new one on me and confusing for a moment before processing what was being depicted. Poetic, though.

I've been seeing that visual metaphor around lately; I think it might be more common in Korean manhwa...
At times it could be a word balloon bloodbath.

Best decision of her life.

@TheWickerMan I mean, I can actually see Mangaret getting her punishment repealed... but only after she's grown accustomed to a life that's the opposite of privilege. She'll need to unlearn all the habits that Mother-Knows-Best drilled into her, and that'll take time. And if her skill isn't sealed while she's growing used to life at the orphanage, there's at least the potential she uses it in anger.

Really, it's more a version of Charlotte from Formerly the Fallen Daughter of the Duke at the end of the latest volume than it is her Light Novel counterpart (although I wouldn't be surprised if she has some classism she needs to unlearn as well).

@Ingraman said in Monster and Parent Vol 2 Discussion:

I just don’t know (recall?) enough about godlings to know what counts as normal for them, so I’m not sure if it doesn’t happen or just hasn’t yet happened for others. :)

I'd love to know what the original Japanese terms were, because there can be a more subtle meaning to it compared to the translation.

Are the godlings kami? And which term do they use for monster?

Modern day hunters of the supernatural who deal with both old fairytales and modern urban legends, and try to prevent them both from developing into something more dangerous. A great theme. A not so great execution.

This is one of those series that I really want to like, but can't. It brings up great plot hooks that I'd really love to see explored, then drops them completely, and goes to a random filler chapter not connected to anything else instead. It goes for that mystery vibe where plenty of things are left unexplained, but overdoes it till you can't tell what's going on half of the time. It frequently places speech bubbles in such a way I have no idea who says what. And worst of all, in my opinion, it does a lot of action, a lot of movement, but it's super hard to follow along - there's some motion happening, but what exactly it is is often unclear, leading to a lot of frustration and backtracking in the action scenes.

All in all, sorry to say, it makes me anticipate something really interesting, then consistently disappoints.

I love this so much! This volume opens with the bombshell that is Bal's confession, and it manages to perfectly switch between cute, funny, romantic and dramatic within a single chapter without any of them feeling out of place. The manga is really such a great fit for the source material.

And when Fiene starts hearing "the voices", she reacts in perfectly Fiene ways - first complaining about how loud they are, then arguing with them that she definitely didn't say anything about marriage so why are they wishing them eternal happiness. :D

(Plus the weirdest foreshadowing: What do you mean "I don't want you to die again?")

The whole volume is such a rollercoaster of emotions, from the lows of Lieselotte's nightmares to the heights of love and caring, and back again, usually in the span of few pages. And as usual with Endo and Kobayashi, I open the volume wondering if it will still be engaging given I've been through the story, in various media, four times already, and end the book ecstatic about it all again!

@Kotenmaru said in Endo and Kobayashi Live! (Manga) Vol 4 Discussion:

I understand why her father told her what he did, but it always comes off as rather cruel, especially to tell a five year old.

Full agreement here. The revelation that Lieselotte bottling her emotions inside is because of something her own father said to her always feels like such a tragic moment; it's just words, but in a lot of other versions of the story, it's something that ultimately kills her.

@King-of-the-End https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/7451/manga-display-issues

This is so sweet and adorable!

They've reached the "living together" stage. And I wonder how representative of people of Japan it is, in general, because I can't believe how chaste everybody is. They're living together, but they're hardly ever physically intimate - they hold hands, and sometimes hug, and that's it. To me it feels like a super conservative look at how young couples should be, not something that flesh and blood people would be like. Could be our cultures are just that different?

Also I'm still fascinated by how gyaru seems to mean "a perfectly ordinary girl, though you can sometimes see her shoulders".