Lots of manga, not as much books, the same as always. And behold: I even read two light novels this month! Yeah, I also can’t believe it, lol.

Magia the Ninth vol. 1-2
This was way too short! These two volumes were more like the prelude to a bigger story, but it seems that the manga got axed? I wish it hadn’t though, because it could’ve been really good. Well, I’m biased since I liked Classicaloid so much and this story feels very similar to it. But the premise is really interesting. I mean, people inheriting the souls of famous composers and using their music to fight battles against demons? Hell yeah! But seeing how the series only ever got these two volumes…it really is a shame.

Darwin’s Game vol. 2
Another enjoyable volume. I like that Shuka turned out to be a friendly girl after all (I expected her to be some cool and distant beauty type) and the new character could also become really interesting. I should finally continue buying this series, but I’m not really hooked yet and they are a bit expensive…

Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time vol. 3
More wacky erotic fun with the best german translation ever :D I’m still really glad I started buying the translated version because every volume is simply a hoot! Also, this series is one of the few on my ‚instant preorder‘ list. It’s so worth it, haha. There just aren’t enough good Ecchi series today, so this one is a nice exception!

One Piece vol. 92-97
Initially I wasn’t too thrilled about the Wa no Kuni-Arc, but those volumes have pretty much changed my mind. The story is a bit weird and over-convoluted at times, but it’s still intriguing enough. Also, there were some nice revelations regarding certain characters so far. (Though the blurb on the back of one volume spoiled one of the revelations for me. Could the publishers please think of the people who don’t read every new volume right after release day? D:) Anyway, I really can’t wait to read the next volume(s) now because I’m somewhat curious how this arc will end!

My Genderless Boyfriend vol. 1
I fell in love with this manga after just that one volume. It’s just one of those series that instantly make me feel better once I start reading a few chapters. Even though I absolutely don’t care about make-up, fashion and all that stuff. Also, the drawing style is really cute – and Wako and Meguru = relationship goals! (Oh, and since the title is a bit misleading: this story isn’t about a trans or nonbinary character, the ‚genderless‘ is just referring to a certain androgynous type of fashion and styling!)

Dorohedoro vol. 1-3
So far I’d say I enjoyed the anime a bit more, but that doesn’t that I don’t like the manga. Quite the contrary, it’s a lot of fun and I can’t wait until I get to read the chapters which didn’t get adapted in the anime. (But as for the first part of the story, I can wholeheartedly recommend the anime. It really captured the stylishly creepy atmosphere of the manga really well!)

In/Spectre vol. 7-10
Finally some new stories which didn’t get adapted yet! And I really enjoyed those stories. Maybe even more so than the Steel Lady arc! The combination of crime stories and the supernatural works really well. And now I’m kind of angry at the publisher. Dear Tokyopop, you can’t just suddenly stop publishing new volumes right in the middle of a new arc – and even without telling us if they’ll ever release more volumes of the series! That’s just…not fair :/

Hyouka vol. 2-11
I like the series. I think I enjoyed the manga more than the anime. And I still really like the story about how the name ‚Hyouka‘ came to be. That’s the kind of wordplay I really love, even though it was quite hard to decipher the meaning for anyone who did not know about the events. Yet I can’t help but wonder: do high schoolers really think and talk about the kind of stuff like the characters in Hyouka do? I’m definitely less introspective than they are. But well, maybe that’s just me being stupid and uneducated, haha. In any case, it is an enjoyable series and I wish there would’ve been an english release of the original novel.

Tokyo Ghoul vol. 6-14
I was really thrilled by the series right up until the end. Though I was a bit sad when the tone of the story turned significantly darker after the first few volumes. Ken slowly coming to terms with the ghoul part of himself was really interesting too and I didn’t like the person he was becoming at first. But nevertheless, it turned out that the story was still really good even after he decided to embrace the ghoul – so to speak. The final battle was a great climax and the final chapter ending on a cliffhanger was a really big incentive to make me buy the first few volumes of :re right after reading it, lol.

Tokyo Ghoul :re vol. 1-6
And so I started reading :re right after finishing the first part. At first it felt like a different series, but then it quickly moved into the same direction as the first series: it got a lot darker. Though this time I was happy about the change – even though I liked the new characters, it would’ve become boring quickly to just follow their everyday lifes at work and at home. Honestly, that’s not what I read TG for. (Also, RIP Ginshi. You were my favourite of the newbies and then you got killed like that ;_;). Oh, and there was another thing I really like so far about the sequel. And this was the first appearance of the ghoul called Owl. I was quite sad about Takizawa dying during the big battle at the end of the first series (the scene with him writing a testament was one of the most emotional ones of the entire series) and so I almost couldn’t believe it when I finally noticed that Owl was indeed him :O Of course it’s pretty heartbreaking to see how much he has changed (and what they must have done to him), so I can’t say I was ‚happy‘ about this development, but…I’m really intrigued by this part of the story and by his character as a whole, that much is for sure! Anyway, I would like to read the next volume ASAP, but seeing the number of volumes of the series I bought in the last month alone…er, well, I guess I have to wait. ^^

Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a Dungeon? Light Novel vol. 1
The Danmachi anime felt sort of boring to me, but I was curious about the novel. I heard it gets much better (and darker) after four or five volumes, and I’m intrigued about that. Well, this first volume was already a nice read, even though I was already familiar with the first part of the story – obviously. I hope I’ll find the motivation to continue reading soon. Though the later volumes are twice as long as the first few ones…that might keep me from picking up vol. 2 anytime soon, lol.

Sword Art Online Light Novel vol. 1
Same as for Danmachi, really. With the exception that I disliked the SAO anime quite a bit. However, when I played one of the available SAO video games I had a lot of fun, so…well, why not take a look at the source material. And I have to say, reading it is a lot more pleasant than watching it. Kirito feels a lot less like some stupidly overpowered Gary Stu and more like a human when I’m actually able to learn more about his inner thoughts. So I’ll keep on reading. Which is good, because I already bought most of the volumes which got released in English so far. Oops.

In tiefen Wäldern Träumen lauschen vol. 2-4
I still absolutely love this series. The story hasn’t even progressed very far in those first few volumes, but every single volume just draws me in and I want more. Sadly there isn’t more, at least not for now. I hope we’ll get a release date for volume 5 soon! Guess I should look into the other Chinese comics/manhuas from the same publisher until then.

Die 100 wichtigsten philosophischen Argumente
Let me first say that I’ve got absolutely no idea about philosophy. But I wanted to learn at least some basics, because I keep seeing references to this or that theory in newspaper articles, books and sometimes even anime. Well, I guess I didn’t get like 75% of the mentioned theories, but some of them felt quite logical, even without any deeper knowledge. So it was an interesting book, but I guess it will be of more use to philosophy students and other people with prior knowledge. It did make me want to read up more on the subject, though. I wonder if there is a ‚Philosophy for Dummies‘ book, haha.

UK Government and Politics Annual Survey 2007-2010
These books are still really interesting, as I didn’t follow politics as closely as I do now back then. Of course they don’t mention every single political event in the UK, but they can still give me an idea about the most important topics in each year. And well, that’s what was looking for.

Mock the Week: 1001 scenes we’d like to see
Well, another MtW book. Can’t really say much about this. I enjoyed most of the jokes, though some are pretty bad too. Overall, a fun read.

111 Gründe London zu lieben
I’d say that I indeed love London, even though I wasn’t able to visit the city yet. (Note to self: you would be able to save some money if you would buy less books, wouldn’t you?) However, I have read a fair share of books about it, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that this book really does mention some stuff I didn’t hear about yet! (I loved the part about Christmas sales starting at the end of July, haha.) So it was definitely worth reading, and I can just recommend it.

Life in London (E-book, obviously not in the picture)
Last year I listened to a great audio adaption of this novel on BBC radio. Well, the novel isn’t as good as the adaption because there is just too much unnecessary talking and describing things (I can’t believe I would ever have to say something like that). However, it was still worth reading because it felt like an oddly comfortable read. I was reading a few pages before I went to sleep and I felt like I was making a short trip to the old London right before bedtime? (Maybe I was just tired though, haha). And another reason: I really like Georgette Heyer’s books and apparently she used this novel as an inspiration for many words and phrases she used in her own works. Which is really interesting! And this reminds me, I should read another Heyer novel. Haven’t done that for ages.

It Wasn’t Me: Why Everyone Else Is to Blame and You’re Not
I have no idea if anyone has read my post ever since last November, but if you did: do you remember me being really in love with Chris Addison? Well, even if you don’t remember, I’m definitely still very much in love. So it’s a bit weird that I haven’t read this book earlier, but…I wanted to save it for a special occasion and so I started reading on my birthday, lol. (Ironically I’ve read a review saying that you probably only like this book if you’re over 30 and middle-class…well, I’ve got to work on the middle-class thing, but at least I’ve got the right age now…yay?) Anyway! It was a bit different from what I expected (then again, what did I expect – no idea), but I had fun reading it and some parts could’ve been straight from one of his comedy routines. So yeah, I liked it a lot. Even though some parts probably don’t really work that well anymore in today’s world, but…I can’t say I mind. If I need to find something to critisise, then it’s that he hasn’t written another book ever since that one. I’m definitely not okay with that.