Forum › Ikoku Nikki discussion

Untitled
joined May 2, 2018

I love this like few other manga but every time a new chapter pops up I find myself re-reading the previous two or three volumes to remember who all the other characters are.

F4x-3lwx0aa0tcu31
joined Apr 20, 2013

I don't have that problem, the only one that confuses me is Asa's classmate who wants to be a doctor, she resembles Makio too much imo so I'm like "Wait, is this a flashback?" sometimes.

Sena
joined Jun 27, 2017

Love how this manga handles mundane things like that commute for the first few pages of this chapter.

I'm honestly not sure I got all that chapter had to say but it's great stuff as usual either way, ha.

Nightflier1
joined Aug 12, 2021

Love how this manga handles mundane things like that commute for the first few pages of this chapter.

I'm honestly not sure I got all that chapter had to say but it's great stuff as usual either way, ha.

Yeah, sometimes new chapters are difficult to get because it kind of hasn't said everything what the story wanted to say with them. It constantly uses images of earlier chapters and interweaves them with the newer ones to create motifs to support a theme. For example how "I don't want them to dislike me" and "actions don't always bear fruit in return" appear here.

But I think this one is mostly about how to receive appreciation from society and how both Kasamachi and Makio struggle with it, while Asa has no trouble with it as shown with her being invited and her lyrics being chosen. It makes for healthier connections in her life, while the trouble with it weighs on Kasamachi and Makio's lives.

Img_0215
joined Jul 29, 2017

New chapter has been up on Mangadex for a few days. Continues to amaze.

I don’t really recall another series where people have the kind of “philosophical” conversations that aren’t about somebody imparting plot-relevant wisdom, but just individuals talking about how they see things from their own (implicitly limited) perspective. And I really never expected to think so highly of a series that did so much of that.

Nightflier1
joined Aug 12, 2021

That is a good point. I never thought of that, but they do that consistently and in the case of Makio explicitly.

On the newest chapter: That second-to-last page is some of my favorite manga pages. It makes me so soft and also sad. I don't know why she will give up the music, but she might have very pressing reasons for doing so, and..it just sucks

Untitled
joined May 2, 2018

"''Talent' is not being able to stop" is a nice way to put it.

Sena
joined Jun 27, 2017

I don't know why she will give up the music, but she might have very pressing reasons for doing so

I think it's just med school being so tough and time-consuming (or possibly it'd be seen as inappropriate in Japan? I mean, it IS Japan ... but probably just time). Sucks indeed, but on the plus, no reasons she can't take it up alter again, I guess.

joined Jun 11, 2016

this chapter is the heaviest so far for me because I relate to it so much.

Nightflier1
joined Aug 12, 2021

I don't know why she will give up the music, but she might have very pressing reasons for doing so

I think it's just med school being so tough and time-consuming (or possibly it'd be seen as inappropriate in Japan? I mean, it IS Japan ... but probably just time). Sucks indeed, but on the plus, no reasons she can't take it up alter again, I guess.

I think you are confusing Chiyo (who has black har and is planning to to med school with Mimori, the blonde one who repeatedly thinks of herself as a "someone who doesn't do such things")

Though now that I type it out, that might be the reason why she stops with music :(

Avatar
joined Feb 17, 2018

I'm on chapter 30 and I feel attacked by how relatable Makio is, I feel like I'm being read to filth lol

Kasamachi feels fantastical on some level, I don't think I'd ever imagined finding a partner who didn't mind my allergy to ritual, I've never been so interested in how a het relationship plays out before but I'm totally invested to see what their relationship dynamic is gonna be like

last edited at Jan 23, 2022 10:39PM

Tumblr_338965de880627681ecd916bc458a939_84d98ad7_500%20(1)-min
joined Feb 4, 2022

Ch. 35 - this is one of my favorites because i constantly have the foolish thought that my actions/words can change the world, even if it's just a bit.

i also like the callback to Makio-san telling Asa to watch "Mad Max: Fury Road" in the early chapters to now when Chiyo tells Asa, "I witness you." In that movie, the War Boys die for their cause saying "Witness me" before they die while the other War Boys cheer.

anyways, i need this series translated and sold in English because this manga is just too fucking beautiful.

Nightflier1
joined Aug 12, 2021

New chapter on mangadex!

Haha, I love how this shows the writing process. I got chills when the character "yes, you can't go anywhere because you are not human" showed up. I immediately wanted to know more about Ruby, heh. Also, this is the character she and Kasamachi were talking about in another chapter. And now it is explicit she uses her writing to process some stuff she wrestles

Img_0215
joined Jul 29, 2017

This question is inspired by the new chapter on MD, but isn't a spoiler of any kind--it's just a mistake characters made that happened to come up in two different manga I've read recently.

  • Are the Japanese words for "desert" and "dessert" actually that similar?
F4x-3lwx0aa0tcu31
joined Apr 20, 2013

Asa and company being a good influence in Makio's life feels really nice, because she was really stuck on her own and so far, it was always Asa the one getting help I think... and I also love how we get a glimpse of her writing process, how she just writes a few words of the general feeling and then expand on each one, and she tries to understand the characters as real humans...even if... they're not human yeah but you know what I mean! .

last edited at Feb 17, 2022 6:18PM

Untitled
joined May 2, 2018

This question is inspired by the new chapter on MD, but isn't a spoiler of any kind--it's just a mistake characters made that happened to come up in two different manga I've read recently.

  • Are the Japanese words for "desert" and "dessert" actually that similar?

Native ones no, but dezaato seems to cover both meanings.

RadiosAreObsolete
Img_20210321_022239%20(2)
joined Mar 6, 2021

"Oh, there are no times like that"
I really liked this line, very much like Asa to say that

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joined Nov 22, 2021

As a(n amateur) writer, I really appreciate this chapter.

Also this series continues to be super good.

Sena
joined Jun 27, 2017

Another outstanding chapter. Well, not outstanding for this manga, given that they essentially are all that good, but outstanding in the wider world of manga.

That parallel storytelling and following along some motif through a chapter ... it's just so good. Sooo gooooood. Every damn time ...
... I'm going to be depressed for a month when this manga ends.

Img_0215
joined Jul 29, 2017

Another outstanding chapter. Well, not outstanding for this manga, given that they essentially are all that good, but outstanding in the wider world of manga.

That parallel storytelling and following along some motif through a chapter ... it's just so good. Sooo gooooood. Every damn time ...

At first, when I realized how good this was and realized that I wasn’t getting everything in my first reading of a chapter, I would go back and start over with the whole thing. But now I just read a new chapter once (or maybe twice) and then later do a fuller re-read in 5 or 6 chapter chunks.

The way Asa circles around to questions she’s asked before but with Makio in a different mood or psychological place for her answers is just amazing.

last edited at Mar 9, 2022 7:45AM

Nightflier1
joined Aug 12, 2021

Another good chapter.

I really liked the moment Asa said she would understand it later, but then the chapter questions that moment. Is it maturity to know when she is still not ripe enough, or is it a passive underestimation of her own capabilities? Is it insecurity brought on by adolescence undermining her?

That feeling of never going anywhere...it is painfully relatable.

Also loved the moment Makio gave another piece of her motivation of to be writer.

last edited at Mar 9, 2022 2:24PM

F4x-3lwx0aa0tcu31
joined Apr 20, 2013

Ah this chapter will require another reading to fully grasp the conversations, sorry I'm a fool.

Untitled
joined May 2, 2018

I laughed most of the way through this chapter with a nagging uncertainty of whether I should be laughing at it. Probably just what the author intended.

Soralaylaff
joined Oct 16, 2013

Another beautiful chapter. I definitely need to reread to capture everything

Purple Library Guy
Kare%20kano%20joker
joined Mar 3, 2013

Aside from the clever narrative devices, I just love the way the conversation, although it kind of has a point, also just really feels like a conversation--one of those pretty awesome ones between smart people who are pretty comfortable with each other, with lots of clever off-the-wall comments and stuff.

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