Zeikin de Katta Hon
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A wholesome manga that gives rare insights into the inner workings of a public library!

"Zeikin de Katta Hon" is a slice-of-life about passionate librarians who are very committed to their work at a public library. We first follow the footsteps of a delinquent into a library where he would work as a librarian and regain his love for book reading. With an episodic approach, each chapter introduces us to new perspectives from a variety of book readers who frequent the said library.

It's a light-hearted story but not without its own charm. I was most impressed with the detailed explanation of the job responsibilities that ... entail. I have always wondered about the line of work in the library so this manga kinda resolves that for me. It is also particularly helpful as a reference for fictional works related to the library.

The main characters working at the library are at heart kind people, and the joy of reading is well delivered in the stories. While the appearance of the main character is like a funny-looking dinosaur, the girls in this manga have very cute, dropsy eyes!! And other characters, especially the customers, have diverse designs so it doesn't get boring.

Overall, "Zeikin de Katta Hon" is a pleasant story to read while lazing around.

*very very minor spoilers*

as someone who has been working part time in a library for the last five years, this manga feels like it was written for me. I've been both a shelver and a front desk aide, and it's really fun comparing my own experiences to those of the characters. A lot of the procedures of this fictional library are very different from mine, but all of the weird or problematic patrons are SO REAL (Shirai's "shitty patrons guide book" never fails to make me laugh). If there's one thing this series gets right, it's that libraries are frequented by all types of people, ... and because of that it's definitely not a dull place to work.

The art in this series is really unique and nice to look at, and the characters themselves have so much personality. The MC being a delinquent is perfect; he has such a chaotic approach to solving problems, and it makes for a fun read. At one point I wondered "how did he even get this job?" (that actually got revealed in a later chapter, I had to laugh). His coworkers are all great too. If you like comedic slice of life, and have any interest in what goes on behind the scenes in public libraries, I highly recommend this series. It's easily a favorite of mine; if it ever gets in licensed in English, I'll be collecting every volume and recommending it to my library to purchase as well :D

I really liked this, to a point. I love the idea of a delinquent that is more interested in reading books than fighting. I love that the staff really welcomes him with open arms and loves him for who he really is vs who he tries to be in front of his friends. I love that he still is kind of a jerk. I love the extended cast of clients and other library employees (though sometimes it’s hard to keep track of who does what).

However I think this tried way too hard to be educational, to the point where it became a little boring at ... times. I loved seeing character development, growth, new characters entering the fold. But in between those brief moments there was just walls of text that had me skimming/skipping a ton, specifically around volume 4 and 7. I feel like this could’ve been a great slice of life about working in a library, if it wasn’t so bogged down with extremely detailed inner workings of how the library system functions.