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(3.26/5)Worth reading for learners
For the purpose of language learning it's a good choice, because the sentences are so short and easy to understand, and there's repetition. The vocabulary is pretty small too. Having something both easy to read and lengthy is valuable.
The premise of the story isn't bad and I could get on board with what's essentially a slice of life except the main character is overpowered, instead of the environment being relaxed. I don't mind if it's low stakes since I like slice of life anyway.
But often it feels like the author's padding for character count, or didn't really think it through much and you're reading a draft. Sometimes there's scenes where there's other characters present, and Yuna is just talking at them and you don't hear anything from the other characters. It'd be better if the story focused on character development and how the characters interact, rather than the game isekai fighting stuff, since it's part of the premise that that stuff is trivial.
Yuna's a friendless shut in from a troubled family but has very little problem getting on with everyone, why didn't they explore that background a little more? Not everything can be solved with brute force should be the kind of lesson the stories look at.
On the positive side, it made me laugh a few times, and I think it's got potential if the problems are addressed. I'll continue reading and hope the author finds their writing style a bit more in volume 2.
It's very hard to recommend this to anyone, and I cannot believe any native Japanese speaker would actually read this.
The story consists of the protagonist narrating their MMO daily life in the most boring, unimaginative, and straightforward way possible. The sentences are generally very short, filled with simple descriptions and repetitive vocabulary. In this sense it would be good for language learners, but it is mind-numbingly boring.
The plot is incredibly simple, and all "challenges" are overcome within the span of about 1 page by the protagonist. There is no character development of any kind in the 300 pages of this book.
One brighter point: In the print copy at the end of the book there is an additional 書き下ろし chapter which has markedly better writing and plot development. Maybe the author has improved and subsequent volumes are less arduous?
A worthwhile first book for those studying for N3 (or just starting out reading LNs)
After trying to read a couple of other books as a beginner but not finishing them, I finally followed the internet's advice and started reading this popular one for learners.
The combination of a sufficiently engaging story and a not too complex vocabulary and grammar burden allowed me to finish this book in a week with a lower N3 vocabulary and grammar background. By the end of the novel my reading speed grew from 3000 chars/hour to almost 5000 chars/hour, which was also very satisfying and attests for this books language learning value. Three chapters of the book are recaps written from another character's perspective and those were considerably easier and quicker to read.
For my fellow language learners: I read this novel in ttsu reader with the yomitan addon (with anki connect for occasional vocabulary "mining") and a very usefull additional plugin called "Anki JPDB reader" which colors words according to whether you know them or not and makes reading novels a lot less daunting for beginners.
Barely acceptable as a story, but a good starting point
This was the first light novel I've read in Japanese. I think that's a pretty standard thing though, this is a common choice, and it works fairly well as a way to get into reading proper light novels if you're only used to shorter content, or stuff that uses shorter sentences. That being said, I think the novelty of reading something in Japanese wore off for me pretty quick near the beginning, and left me with a repetitive isekai story that doesn't innovate on anything. It reads a lot like someone dryly describing their first few quests in an RPG, but also they're really hung up on being forced to dress like a bear despite it having no perceivable downsides. To its credit, it is bear-ly funny sometimes, but it's mostly at the expense of the main character, since it's hard to like them very much. I wouldn't expect much from this, but if you make it your first step to reading more impressive work, then it's valuable enough from that.
Good as a easy read on lazy days
If you can already read jlpt 1or 2 level content this is a good book to fall back on when your feeling less motivated. Imao this book is a bit under rated as a lot of the content around it is manga. Somehow the manga is rated slightly higher on difficulty. This should probably be around 23-25, definitely not 21
Great Extensive reading but not very interesting
This book centers around a girl caught in another world (a game world like MMORPG, but an actual world). But there's really no struggle here, no friction. Not much really seemed to matter either lol. It gets pretty boring until the VERY last bit and even then, it's pretty dull. However, from a language learning perspective its pretty good due to simplicity and repetition. And there are some cute parts at least. 3/5 - A solid choice for people around N3.
A good beginner light novel.
This was recommended as a good beginner novel and I agree that it is. The grammar and words are fairly simple, but the first chapter or two will have a lot of tough one-time use words. After that the story and the vocab repeats often enough that you get used to the setting and the author's writing style. Consider this a parody of Isekai and you might enjoy it more, but ultimately, I find the main character to be grating and rather cruel. The way they think, and act is egotistical and they are degrading to men while putting a 10-year-old girl to tough and bloody labor.
For language learning, the short sentences and words were simple enough that if you are an N3 or N2 learner you will have a bunch of new words in the beginning and then a few new words here or there. With the top 10k words on JPDB and the top 200~ words from the deck on this series I had 97% word coverage. Extensive reading on this is possible from N2 levels with considerable ease.
If You Want To Start Reading Japanese Books, Try This
This is probably the best book for a beginner learner to read first. It's available for free online at Syosetu. This is great for two reasons. You can use a pop-up dictionary like Yomitan to help your progress, and you don't have to spend any money.
The use of language is perfect for beginners. The sentences are super short. It was the first thing I noticed. Many sentences don't have multiple clauses. Additionally, the dialogue is simple with no characters using difficult-to-understand speech styles or excessive keigo. Before reading, I was slightly concerned that there would be too much fantasy jargon, video game terms, or internet slang, but they were infrequent to the point of being nonexistent. The vocabulary is common and grounded in daily life, and the number of lookups I needed to do significantly dropped toward the end. I also felt a noticeable increase in my reading speed in the final chapters.
The book is a great resource, but it's not perfect. I would not recommend this for entertainment in any way. It's a generic Isekai--an overpowered protagonist who doesn't have problems in a stereotypical realm with archetypal companions. Even though I finished the day I'm writing this, I can only remember a handful of moments. The plot is very straightforward, so much so that you could probably read the story out of order and not have problems understanding what's happening. (That is a good thing for studying though, as you should be able to understand everything no matter how much you struggle.)
In typical light novel fashion, this is highly serialized. This is great if you liked the book or found it helpful as a resource. However, I found the story dull, so I have no plans to continue reading. Even if it wasn't the most captivating, I recognize how this book can be a great stepping stone into more interesting media, and I strongly encourage you to check it out.
Great for learning. Mediocre story
My first LN I started reading in Japanese. At the beginning I had to translate most of the words. But over time I learned almost every word that the author would use. Now I only have to occasionally translate something and can read it pretty much fluently.
Story wise it might be interesting at the beginning, but you will notice soon enough that the story is basically just repeating itself. It just goes from one little story to the next, with little progression or action in between.
Overall a nice read for passing your time in between, especially when you get more fluent in it. I wouldn't recommend this if you are looking for an exciting or interesting book, but the simple story makes it easy to learn.
Simple, in both language and the rest
The first light novel I read in Japanese. I read this because it supposedly was the easiest LN, yet I still found it quite challenging as my lack of vocabulary and grammar made it very hard to parse the sentences. In the beginning I enjoyed reading it as was very exciting actually reading in Japanese for the first time, but over time the simple characters and nonexistent story got old.
If you have a strong foundation in vocab and grammar (N3 or above), you shouldn't have many problems reading this. Overall I would recommend reading some easy manga and then choosing a light novel you're interested in over reading this for it's relative ease, unless you feel like you're into this kind of novel.
A decent story, but great for a first novel in terms of difficulty.
I had read novels before but very slowly due to having to look up so many words. Prior to that I'd only ever read manga (typically shounen manga with lots of furigana). Coming from there this book was very easy to pick up and I could read it quite quickly which made it more fun than struggling through 10 or so pages a day with something more complicated. Especially if you are reading it on syosetu.com with yomichan, looking up words you don't know is super fast. There's also lots of repeated vocabulary here so once you are through the first 3 or 4 chapters, there won't be much you need to look up. You'll learn words like 討伐 and 解体 very quickly.
A short summary of the start of the book: As far as the content of the story goes, it's pretty generic as far as isekai goes. Yuna is a 15 year old girl who someone how has managed to play the stock markets just right and become super rich. With everything sorted for her she leads a hikkikimori life playing her favourite VRMMO all day. One day she logs in after a new update. Before entering the game she finds she's been awarded a random prize. She recieves a full set of bear related armour (a reversible bear onsey, complete with little bear puppet gloves) that has some pretty nice buffs that level up with her. Too embarrassed to actually wear it however, she just wants to get back into the game, when she finds herself in a completely different place with her bear gear fully equipped and her level and inventory completely reset. Soon Yuna finds out that this isn't the game she'd been playing but actually another world (that just happens to have very similar systems to the game she played). Initially wanting to find other clothes to wear, she keeps finding reasons she needs the powers of her onsey, eventually giving up and becoming that weird overpowered adventurer that goes around in a bear costume.
It has it's funny moments however. I'm sure it get's old as the volumes go on, but Yuna's exasperation at how far the forced bear theming of her magic is, as well as the reactions of the people around her regarding her outfit and actions is quite humerous. I especially liked the comments the other adventurers at the guild make about her behind her back when she starts getting a reputation.
The Kuma House also had me smiling. Yuna is very practical with her abilities.
All in all, I'd say that it's a good entry point for anyone looking to get into light novels due to the repeated vocabulary and simple grammer. The story is amusing at points but don't expect to be gripped by it or anything.
Oh it's also free to read all of it (on syosetu) which is pretty nice.
Since isekai is one of my favourite genres in anime and manga, I was looking very much forward to this being my first Japanese light novel one. And well, while it's true that it's easy to read, using simple language and grammar, it had nothing else going for it.
The setting was generic. The only character with any kind of personality was the protagonist. There was no conflict that couldn't be solved instantly with straightforward bear-costume powers. There was no plot nor goals to work towards. Since this seems to be slice of life, that latter part would be fine, but - there haven't been any interesting interactions or situations either. It was just bland and boring.
And so, after chapter 8, instead of becoming my first isekai LN, it became the first Japanese book that I dropped.
Yes, this is an easy book to read, so I can sort of understand why everybody rates it higher for language learning purposes. But this isn't the only book around L22, and it's not like it's a graded reader with special support for language learners.
Go read something more interesting instead, and you'll learn just as much.
PS: I don't usually review books that I haven't finished, but I wish there had been a few more negative reviews to temper my expectations.
I've been trying to learn Japanese over the past few years and after grinding a variety of resources and learning material I finally felt up to the challenge of a "real" book for natives, so my reaction to this book will probably be somewhat different to someone just reading an English version for kicks. This came highly recomended due to being a supposedly easy read and because much of the vocabulary is repeated frequently, and not only was it excellent for that aspect, but it was also just a plain fun read. The opening chapters were hellish but the famous "10 pages rule" certainly did apply and while some reading days were easier to read than others, I eventually was able to more-or-less smoothly enjoy the characters and their world even if I did have to double-check my grammar and reading on a frequent basis.
Basically this girl gets brought into the world of her favorite RPG and has stupidly overpowered abilities and powers, but in order to use them she has to wear the most absurd bear outfit possible. There's a lot of good humor from this setup, Yuna has kind of a snarky personality and as she gets tired of people making fun of her outfit she decides to basically cut loose and accomplish things in the most absurd ways possible. There's a lot of fun imagery with how her powers are written and the humor gets a bit darker than you might expect at times which always caught me off guard for a good gag. My favorite bit being when she tests out a particular spell on an unfortunate wolf and the results are a bit messier than she expected.
As far as the plot, it's pretty freeform, and it does feel like you're reading the exploits of an RPG going on missions, butting heads with bureaucracy and unlocking new, even more absurd abilities. There doesn't seem to be a real overarching narrative aside from her daily adventures and quests, but the approach works well here and keeps the story from being too dense.. I've been playing a couple open-ended JRPG's lately and it reminds me a lot of those (with a nice overlapping vocabulary to boot!).
Even with my beginner-ish level Japanese the tone and style in Japanese was pleasant and low-key, with wonderfully dry situational humor. Truth be told this probably isn't the type of book I would normally seek out if it was in English, but the fact that I was able to complete an entire book in another language and have a fun time doing so was deeply satisfying, and I'm hoping that by the end of this series I'll really be doing well.
A great first light novel for those looking to make the jump
Compared to most other light novels, this novel uses fairly simple sentence structure and vocabulary, and is an easy read! Combine that with being free to read, I'd highly recommend it for anyone looking to read their first light novel!
That being said, I do feel like the story itself is a bit weak. The writing seems almost too simple, and the main character feels very much like a Mary Sue, who gets incredible cheatlike powers at no cost and is never held responsible for being kinda crappy to other people, and actually blatantly disregards her responsibility in causing many bad situations.
Best LN for learners
Review for the the 9 volumes I have read so far: It keeps you interested enough. The main point is that when you are able to read to a decent speed in your target language it makes the content much more fun than reading whatever else you're more interested in but can't quite read it yet. And for that, this LN is the best I could find out there. The language is simple enough if you use yomichan to hover words you don't know, and I found that not having furigana was a blessing, I learned so much by having to guess the reading of words.
The one thing I dislike is having to read the same story through another character's PoV. Some volumes have that more than others, particularly volume 8. Although, for a language learner, Fina's chapters are great because she uses very easy words.
As for the difference between the novel or reading it from syosetu, the main thing is you get a few extra chapters at the end and illustrations. Also at the time of writing this you can read the first 2 volumes for free if you have kindle unlimited JP.
The easiest light novel to read in Japanese
くまクマ熊ベアー is a comedic light novel about a 15 year old hikikomori gamer named Yuna, who has played so much of her favorite VR MMORPG that she has attracted the attention of the game's developers, and they offer her two gifts: an embarrassingly cute bear costume that has hidden powers, and the chance to escape reality permanently by entering a real live fantasy world.
The sentences are simple, short, and direct, with few relative clauses and no flowery description whatsoever. I found conversations involving more than two characters a bit difficult to follow since the author avoids dialogue tags like they're the plague. While there are quite a few video game and fantasy specific words, there's not a lot of variety to the vocabulary so once you've looked something up it'll stick through sheer repetition. This book has little furigana, so if you're not good with kanji you'll want to read this digitally to make dictionary lookups easier.
The story is very chill and occasionally funny, being mostly about Yuna making friends and learning how to use the ridiculous bear suit. There doesn't appear to be any longterm plot or deep worldbuilding, so it's simply a fantasy slice of life novel. Whether you'll find that relaxing or boring depends on your preferences.
If you're eager to read your first light novel in Japanese and you're okay with not having furigana, this is probably the ideal book to start with.
First book!
Very easy to understand. The grammar is simple and vocabulary repeats often. The story is a bit boring tho