君のとなりで。 音楽室の、ひみつのふたり

Simple and entertaining series of novels!

Yoshikawa Sakura is a depressed middle schooler who is roped into joining the school wind music club by her two best friends, who are fanatic about a genius saxophone player, Ibuki, the most popular guy in the school. On their first day they learn the iron rule of the club…. “No in-club romance allowed!”.

I picked this up after seeing a review on Amazon JP from a mother saying it was the most popular series in her daughter’s school. So I thought it would be great for language learning.

• Entertainment: Contrary to the cute cover, this is a surprisingly dramatic series. At times more so than Shoujo manga aimed at an older audience. It deals with themes of depression, bullying and isolation and how the main character learns to put her experiences behind her, with the help of others, in order to achieve her dreams. However, it’s also really light-hearted and funny in places, with lots of Shoujo style moments between the main two, making it really addicting to read!

• Language Learning: This is a super simple book to read as it mainly is Yoshikawa’s internal dialogue, with very little description to surroundings. The vocabulary is easy and perfect for building a base. I would highly recommend this a first novel, more so than “ 夜カフェ”, as there is far less description and more dialogue. Once you’ve learnt the basic music vocab, it becomes a very smooth read!

As of this review I have read 4 novels within the series and am looking forward to reading more! Highly recommend.