Get Up to Date with September Catchups!
-
Autumn is upon us, and we also have new catchup series to check out!
We've got a bunch of series about making stuff this month! First, making anime! Read all about anime behind the scenes from a former animator in Animeta! Next, making civilization! A young boy in Fushi no Kami is born with modern memories in a medieval world and wants to speed up the development of technology. Finally, making war! Ryoma suddenly finds himself summoned to another, crueler world, and he must leverage his unusual upbringing to survive in Record of Wortenia War.
And there are more series to check out! Demon Lord, Retry! follows the (mis)adventures of a MMO player who wakes up as his (overpowered) character in a new fantasy world, and a couple titles that are exactly what they say on the tin! Apparently It's My Fault That My Husband Has the Head of a Beast and There Was No Secret Evil-Fighting Organization (srsly?!), So I Made One MYSELF!
Over thirty volumes of contents for J-Novel Club members to read, so get started now!
-
Demon Lord Retry turned out to be better than I expected, as a much less grimdark story that's somewhat like Overlord with a hint of Zagan from Elf Bride.
I tried reading the volume 1 prepub when it first came out but gave up when the goofy alter ego appeared. I later gave the anime a try and discovered that most of the story is more serious than that one interlude, and is fun overall if you don't take it too seriously.
That prompted me to try the LNs again, and there's a lot of good content that was edited out of the anime for time.
Record of Wortenia War is pretty good but is definitely in grimdark territory and you'll need to put up with Unwanted Undead Adventurer levels of pointless exposition now and then. Like Undead and Seirei there are also sometimes entire volumes of setup in between the story moving forward.
-
Been checking every hour all day, finally after 4pm texas time I can start the next round of catching up, Oh Yeah!
-
I hope this has implications for Fushi no Kami
Which has a new Japanese novel out already!!Excited to try demon lord retry!
-
Oh geez, the catchups post has been out for 2 days already? I missed it because I was searching for the catchups tag the last few days. Now to figure out which series I want to pick up.
-
Animeta is pretty good and a somewhat critical look at the working conditions of the anime industry (though it could stand to examine itself a little more). Kind of like Shirobako but with less comedy.
Husband Has The Head of a Beast was okay. It's short so even if you don't like it, you won't lose much. I don't think the story was really able to get going though.
Secret Org is the most unjustly cancelled series to ever exist. I love this story.
-
@vorthod Whoops! I completely forgot about the tags, sorry!
-
@saffire said in Get Up to Date with September Catchups!:
Secret Org is the most unjustly cancelled series to ever exist. I love this story.
I just read it and I have to agree. That was an amazing read. I like how it casually throws personality tropes to the wind... we have a calm, cool, collected fire user, and a hotheaded chuuni ice user. Exactly the opposite of what you'd expect.
-
@saffire said in Get Up to Date with September Catchups!:
Secret Org is the most unjustly cancelled series to ever exist. I love this story.
Hmm... I read the first volume and it seemed like it had a good premise and approach... but also that it had no idea what it wanted to really do with any of it once things were setup. I'd be tempted to read the second volume, but if it's cancelled and not competed it's hard to justify spending the time.
DLR seems like one of those series I'd either really enjoy or really hate. That particular setup doesn't seem to leave much room for indifference.
-
@pcj That description of characters with powers reminds me of Chrono Trigger, except Marle isn't Chuuni.
-
@xdrfiredogx said in Get Up to Date with September Catchups!:
Hmm... I read the first volume and it seemed like it had a good premise and approach... but also that it had no idea what it wanted to really do with any of it once things were setup. I'd be tempted to read the second volume, but if it's cancelled and not competed it's hard to justify spending the time.
I mean, I can't promise that everyone will love it, but it's been done for years and it's still one of my favorite series on the site. If your concern is "what are they going to do once things are set up", Volume 2 tackles that with a vengeance.
-
Regarding Secret organization, do we get at least some closure at the end of volume 2? It makes me curious, but if it ends with all the plot threads still hanging, or even in a cliffhanger it would be frustrating.
-
@saffire That certainly sounds promising... How much of a cliffhanger I climbing out on if there is no volume 3 though?
-
@lex said in Get Up to Date with September Catchups!:
Regarding Secret organization, do we get at least some closure at the end of volume 2? It makes me curious, but if it ends with all the plot threads still hanging, or even in a cliffhanger it would be frustrating.
There's enough of a hook to get you to come back for volume 3, but it's not really a cliffhanger, per se.
Volume 1 ends with what pretty much feels like closure (it became slice of life by that point). Volume 2 introduces a new character, and most of that volume is about integrating the new character into the group. The ending is a major paradyme shift in the way the organization operates, and it felt to me like a sufficient ending to leave you wondering where it would go from there but not feeling like you're completely hanging. Though I really do want to know where it goes from there. :-) There were also a few side stories at the end that gave an outsider perspective to what was going on (and some touching family moments for the PoV character).
-
@pcj thanks...I'll read the other catchup series first and then if I have enough time left I'll try this one too.
-
@saffire said in Get Up to Date with September Catchups!:
Secret Org is the most unjustly cancelled series to ever exist. I love this story.
This. Very much this (or perhaps Second Life)
I'm reading too many LNs to fit the titles into 255 chars >.<
-
@caerold Second Path doesn't count anymore, it actually got vol.3 under different publisher in Japan this spring after almost 5 year hiatus.
https://bookwalker.jp/def290d900-5f80-4673-b818-a187ba5a1a42/ -
Yep, now we wait for JNC to get the rights. It's been 6 months, but it being from a publisher JNC has never worked with before and that publisher being rather brand new and may not prioritize international licensing, plus the fact that the original translator no longer works for JNC, all aren't making it any faster.
-
@wellwisher Holy heck, really? That's darn fine news!
-
Thanks for putting Fushi no Kami on catchup. It's a series that's been on my radar for a while due to people saying it's like bookworm.
I read the first volume and came to the conclusion that any resemblance to bookworm is superficial and that the series really is not for me. But now I know and that's a mystery resolved for me.
