July 14, 2024

Arguably the best shoujo of my teenage years!

I want to preface this review by saying that Dengeki Daisy has a special place in my heart. I first read a fantranslation in the early 2010s and was so smitten I proceeded to buy the whole series in print just to have it in my collection lol

That being said, I'll do my best to be as objective as possible.

Language wise, this is on the harder side(from a lower N3 perspective). There's furigana in everything except for handwritten text and text messages, which comprise a good portion of this story. However, most text messages are replicated in the balloons with furigana, so still very accessible.

There are a few aspects though that make the reading very challenging, at least to me: While most of the language is slice of life, there's a fair amount of jargon(mostly vocabulary pertaining to hacking); many pages (I'd say some 50%) are pretty dense when it comes to the amount of text; the characters are full of personality so there's a lot of stylistic speech choices that present themselves through slang and an interesting use of katakana. Please, keep in mind that this series is nearly 15 years old when preparing for the colloquial language you'll encounter. Finally, it's also a comedy, so there's keigo and old-fashined language being used for comedic effect that can prove quite the challenge for the lower-intermediate student.

The plot is very easy to follow, though; so it's completely manageable for extensive reading imo.

Speaking of the plot, I can't speak for the whole thing because I'm in the process of rereading it 10 years later, so I don't remember the details/the ending. But I can say that as far as the premise goes, it's got the makings of a classic — a simple plot with underlying layers of angst and a charismatic cast of characters that learn and evolve at each chapter.

In all, it's beautifully written, and the art style is one of the most expressive ones I've seen in the genre. 100% worth the read!

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on July 14, 2024