@Geezer-Weasalopes said in June 2025 Catchups:

It has...my not having gotten that far into the series because I just wasn't into it that much at the time; I have purchased the first eight

I watched the Outbreak Company anime and mildly enjoyed it, but I'm way too casual about my anime and LNs to get into the ultra-hardcore otaku culture.

For example, I vaguely understand from reading LN that knee-high socks and a "thigh gap" is a special fetish thing for otaku but it's not something I care about myself. I just shrug and move on.

@karasutengu Crest of The Stars to Banner is kind of like Firefly TV to Serenity in that it established the universe and main relationships, giving the next property a place to start but leaving already existing fans coming in with already established events and characters continuing events and while not making it impossible to follow it won't give new viewers the depth to understand fully events or impact.

Or like watching Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Kahn with never seeing Star Trek before. You have to pick up the setting and interactions on the fly, thus missing the same emotional impact longtime fans felt at the end of the film.

Though in Star Trek 2's case those just watching the movie miss the experience of long time fans attempting to head cannon Kahn remembering Checkov's face when the character of Checkov wasn't in the series when Kahn appeared.

@Lincelp Thanks for reporting! It should be fixed now!

@HarmlessDave said in Is It Foolish to Have This Many Catchups?:

prepubs don't get all of the corrections added for the final releases, so the issue might or might not exist in the ebook and (if any) print volume. Reporting things like typos isn't needed because the prepubs for released volumes are usually frozen in time forever.

I know this has been the rationale given in the past, but we still appreciate when it's reported, and if we have time/bandwidth we will fix it!

I noted this on the forums, and in Discord. After V5 The Great Cleric does come back strong and goes back to its OG roots.

All of the V4 and V5 stuff comes back later on to be relevant in a good way.

Others who dropped it did come back and say the same.

But yes, The Great Cleric is meant to be a slow burn.

The Skull Dragon’s Precious Daughter is adorable, and not much of a time investment. Would highly recommend.

I got back into Dahlia the last time it was on catch-up, so I might try Lucia too if I can scrounge up the time.

That I'll Never Set Foot is listed as 6+ has me waiting in anticipation for the next volume to appear soon.

I'll copy @HarmlessDave's format.

Forget Being the Villainess, I Want to Be an Adventurer! - Could not stand it. Barely finished v1, never gave v2 a thought.

Did I Seriously Just Get Reincarnated as My Gag Character?! - Never finished v1. Something just was meh. But I honestly never gave it a fair shake. I should try it now.

Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles - I got to v17 before getting tired of it. I keep thinking I want to pick it back up, because I thought the world design was interesting, but I never do.

@myskaros

FYI, In Arifureta V5 P5, the wrong image is currently shown. It's currently an image of a bald guy lying on a sofa, but I think it should be Shizuku petting a cat. I think this may be something that got scrambled when you did your system upgrade a few months ago, the filename is consistent with the new naming conventions.

@xdrfiredogx said in A Solid Selection for Spooky Season!:

The bland protag and paint by numbers story means that I dropped the Seirei Gensouki novels like 3rd period French, so that's a hard pass, and I'm caught up on Bakarina. I could try DLR, but my tolerance for super lucky, super OP isekai tends to be rather low...

The supporting cast is fun and grows over time, and the super luck isn't as strong as tearmoon or grieving souls. It might not be your cup of tea but you might try it while it's here.

Combat Baker is an absurd series, in all the right ways. Lud has perpetual Mean Face going, so he endlessly scares all the small children he wants nothing more than to bake treats for, and at every twist and turn folks keep dragging him into their fights when he's really just trying to get the perfect rise on his souffle!

The setting is interesting as well... think slightly steampunk Victorian aged Europe, except this version is what has arisen after civilization rose up to our level, and then collapsed into the dark ages, taking all that knowledge and history with it.

It's been ages now, but I remember really liking it... I might have to find time for a re-read

@myskaros Oh, I should've been born an American then. So I would have a day off on my birthday instead of having to go back to work. 😜

Ah, I looked it up. It's not a fixed date so it would only be a holiday when it's the first Monday in September.

Nice to have Dahlia on catchup during the same month the anime is coming out. Quite an enjoyable series (with a misleading title) about a magic tool maker coming into her own. The romance is definitely sloooowww burn though. Nothing else quite to my tastes this month, but I do quite enjoy Dahlia.

Since June 1 falls on a weekend, catchups will be switching on Monday instead! Finish up your May catchup reading before then!

@saidahgilbert - it was a big shift from a mix of adventure and family time to 100% family time, and I agree the author didn't pull it off. I don't regret reading volumes 3-4 but I understand skipping them for being too much sugar without any spice.

so what's echo about? the synopsis doesn't actually say anything about it.
Or is it the kind of story where saying anything at all about it will spoil it?

@GeorgeMTO Thank. I probably buy it, look interesting to me.

@abcdave In any case, check the updates here. The home page has been updated late on occasion

@saidahgilbert said in Get Away for the Summer with July Catchups!:

I just finished volume 1 of The Great Cleric and was pleasantly surprised. The anime almost lead me astray with its portrayal but the story is more palatable as a novel than as an anime to me. So I will continue reading the books (and hopefully finish before month's end) and stop watching the anime.

That happens way too often. Off the top of my head:

Abilities Average - dropped the best part of the humor, of Mile believing she's cleverly convinced everyone that's she's perfectly normal, replaced it with stupid gags of her flying into a rage. Also skipped one of the best early arcs, the hunter school Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear (both seasons) - speedruns the content, skipping a lot of the humor, depth, and the quieter bits with Yuna and the kids. They even messed with the picture books. Smartphone - skipped a lot of the content where Touya was training, learning, and building things ahead of time to somewhat earn his OPness Death March - did a poor job of conveying that Satou's main goal was to have fun as a tourist and take care of his wards, not be a hero or solve the world's problems Master of Ragnarok - made it seem like the MC's only skill is looking up things on Google

I've reached the point where I hesitate to watch the anime for a LN I enjoy since I expect to be annoyed by the changes and cut content.

@pcj said in JNC's June Catchup Travel Guidebook:

@pcj said in JNC's June Catchup Travel Guidebook:

I just finished volume 4 of Zero Believers.

and now Volume 5... and half that stuff I gushed about it got tossed on its head. But the writing style is still fun, and I'm enjoying the hell out of reading it.

I managed to finish volume 7, so I made it in time. Volume 9 is current, but Volume 8 is still in pre-pub until July 17, so I have a couple weeks to catch the rest of the way up.