Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen
Ascendance of a Bookworm: I'll do Anything to Become a Librarian!

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This is a review of the first 5 books (official translation) and the rest of webnovel version.

Side note: I spell Main "Myne" because it's easier to read especially for those who are unfamiliar with Ascendance of the Bookworm. Fun fact: the name Main is a reference to the city of Mainz, Germany.

tl;dr
The best things about Ascendance of the Bookworm is worldbuilding and relationship between people. There are lots of people and names in Ascendance of the Bookworm, but each person feels different and memorable (well of course there are some minor that are forgettable). The author takes full advantage of Myne being from another world ... as she brings not only her knowledge of our world but also common sense and values. The fantasy part of the world feels fulfilling as the novel continues to build this new world, explores its culture, and uncovers its history. The story in general feels quite upbeat and peaceful, but the author never fails to remind the readers of the cruelty and selfishness of the people and, many times, the very world itself.
Unfortunately, because of how detailed Ascendance of the Bookworm is, I can't seem to enjoy many other fantasy/isekai since I'm now starting to nitpick small details e.g. unnaturally high literacy level of laypeople (e.g. written store sign), omission of necessity like toilet and tax, random items that are out of place like drinking straw in medieval-era-esque fantasy (yes, I saw one in a fantasy manga, lol).

World-building
Ascendance of the Bookworm builds not only the world, but also the tales of the gods, the myths and relationships between the gods, as well as how those gods and tales are weaved into culture and history itself. One thing that I really like about Ascendance of the Bookworm is that Myne, being a person from another world, is constantly challenged with things she doesn't know about the world and how her "common sense" and values are not quite a common sense in this fantasy world. The values of people of the world vary greatly depending on their status and occupation. If you think about it, that's how it's supposed to be, but most isekai/fantasy doesn't even touch upon the difference between modern world's culture/common sense and this new isekai/fantasy world, let alone people of different classes. The author takes advantage of Myne's "uncommon sense" to emphasize the difference in the new world.

Relationship between people
This is a rather interesting aspect of the novel. I don't think it's wrong to say that the entirety of Ascendance of the Bookworm is built to illustrate relationship between people.
Friendship, familial love, parental love, passion, loyalty, trust.

Then, in part 2, Myne who becomes a blue miko apprentice, is pushed to an entirely different world and sees the difference in relationship.
For instance, commoners (and we) celebrate a birth of a child, but for orphans, a birth of a child is something to be loathed. It's another mouth to feed, another person to take care of, and the end of grey miko's life as a servant (who is now sent back to the orphanage, most likely permanently).

Part 3 onward shows yet another different world: the world of nobility. The world introduces yet another new set of relationship like territorial conflict and political marriage. At the same time, the author also shows how the relationship between nobles differs from commoners. For example, since raising a noble costs a lot of money, nobles of lower status often choose, without hesitation, to raise only children who have higher potential, even if that means leaving their other children to die.

Another fun fact: Ascendance of the Bookworm is one of a few fantasy novel I read that people get PTSD (another example is Goblin Slayer). Considering how common fantasy with monster killing (and people too) and stuff like that, you'd think PTSD is common (about 10-30% of real life veterans have PTSD at some point).

Edited as of 3/15/2021
Update as of 4/24/2022
Current Score 10
Reasons at the bottom.

For those of you who have seen the anime and have already decided to pick this novel up and want a bit of guidance/info, scroll to the bottom:

Right off the bat, I will go ahead and say that I have been craving something akin to Spice and Wolf for a long while, and whilst I thought this was due to Spice and Wolf's fantastic romance and journeying aspect with excellent dialogue, what I discovered from reading Ascendance of a Bookworm is that I was truly missing the excellently written characters.

The first ... thing I feel I should address is something that may put people off at first glance, its an isekai. And, just like most isekai, our main character gets isekai'd into a medieval-like society and uses her knowledge and wisdom in her new life to accomplish her desires. Are those desires to go back to her previous world/life? Heck no! Those desires, if it weren't obvious is to read books! But there is only one issue. Oh, did I say one? I meant a TON of issues. She gets put into the sickly body of a little girl. Oh and books as we know them are basically unheard of. And the way the author uses this premise , makes for an excellent read, but a cool premise
alone is not enough to make something engrossing. You need good characters.

Thankfully, the characters in Ascendance of a Bookworm feel real. Everyone has goals, ambitions, things they are good at and things they are bad at. Even side characters have dreams and ambitions that they are actively trying to accomplish. And what's more, the translators over at JNovel Club do a fantastic job at crafting these characters into the Author's desired goal. Not every character is likable, but not every character is SUPPOSED to be likable. But dammit, they are still good characters that accomplish the authors goal and help create this lovely world.

It would be absolutely criminal to review this series and NOT talk about the world building. Because god damn is it great. This series has for me, created a world which I can truly see people living in. Whether it be the power dynamics between the commoners, merchants, and nobility, or the relationships between different groups because of their shared, or competing interests.

So, my overall enjoyment should be obvious, right? Your darn right it is! I am absolutely ecstatic about this series and am excited to see what happens next. And this has easily become among my favorite light novels.

Anime watchers, many of you are probably wondering where should I start? Should I read what the anime covered? Did it skip anything? Etc. I will first start off by saying that the anime covers the first 3 volumes of the light novels. (Part 1) However, if you have the time and the will, I would recommend starting from the start, as there are is a bit of content that was cut out, mostly in terms of additional info in characterizing people. The characters are more fleshed out, the process in how things are made is actually explained and their struggle in making those things (which I think the anime didn't really convey well), as well as negotiations, etc are all things that were under conveyed in the anime. (Still a good anime though, don't get me wrong, just wish they didn't adapt the material so fast.) Now, could you read starting from volume 4? Sure! If you struggle to get through content you have experienced already and the other option is not reading the books at all, then just start from Volume 4 (Part 2: Volume 1). Regardless of how you decide to read these novels, I definitely think they are worth reading!


Edit 3/15/21
I increased my rating from an initial 9, having only read every volume of Part 1 and 1 volume of Part 2. I am currently caught up with J-NovelClub's translation. I have honestly never been so in love with a series. I have been reading the weekly translations that are available to Premium Members for J-NovelClub Members ever since I wrote this review. I can honestly say that I have looked forward to each release every single week. It has honestly given me so much joy and excitement that I cannot reasonably justify giving it any less than a 10. Is it not for everyone? Sure. Though I would think you are insane. But for me? Its perfect. And I can only look forward to what has yet to come!

Edit 4/24/2022
I have been reading this series religiously every Monday (because thats when the pre-pubs are posted on J-NovelClub.). As of right now, I the official translation is at Part 4 Volume 7. Still as amazing as when I last updated, perhaps even more so because of how invested I have become in this series. It is a joy to see how Myne adapts to those around her and at the same time, how everyone else is forced to adapt to Myne. Definitely give this a read if you are on the fence at all.

This is kinda a meta-review of the LN and the anime, not the manga...

The anime for anime-haters.

I'm 65 and have been watching anime for 30+ years (Ranma 1/2 and the like). My significant other is 66 and has watched many anime with me... but only the first episode.

When I encountered Bookworm, I managed to get her to watch one episode, and she ended up watching three. Then the next day, another three. And then two, and then another two and then we ran out of English dubs and she continued to watch the series in subtitled format until it ended (she's seriously dyslexic and this ... is actually physically painful for her).

Then I got the light novels and she read them as fast as I could give them to her (dyslexic remember) and is now working on volume 8 in the series on kindle..

Others have given plots, backgrounds, critiques, etc...
I don't need to:

My 66-year-old SO binge-watched the whole series, including the subtitled episodes and is reading the light novels as fast as she can.

That's really all you need to know.

Update: the SO is now working on Volume 16 and happy that the release of 17 is just around the corner.

Update to the update: She's now working on Volume 17 and happy that the release of 18 is just around the corner.

This novel cost me many almost sleepless nights. Each evening, I would plan to read a chapter of so before falling asleep. Each time, I would suddenly come to senses after finishing a volume and realizing it’s around 3 A.M.. I would not learn from this and I would do this mistake again and again. This should already speak tremendously about how catchy Ascendance of a Bookworm is.

Isekai is a genre that at this point feels like an overused old rag that is more likely to dirty the floor more than to clean it. Yet still, once in a while there is a gem ... that makes it worth trying out all the various titles to find it. However, Honzuki excels not above the isekai genre alone, but above the light novel medium in general. Truly, reading through it made me realize again just how much the usual LN lacks in writing department – having only the barebone content, barren dialogue and not much to lead the reader’s imagination through. Honzuki is the direct opposite to that, the scenes and situations are so vividly and colourfully written I was simply lost in the fantasy world in portrayed, as if I was actually watching in, perhaps even as if I was actually there. This really is one of those amazing books that just transport you inside them. It’s quite fitting that a book about bookworm offers such genuinely nice feelings towards bookworms, offering them exactly one the ideal fantasy book should do.

At the core of Honzuki is it’s protagonist Many, and she serves as a good example how well the characters of the novel work out. Being isekai’d is nut just a plot device to transform a relatable protagonist into a fantasy world, no, it’s a major plotpoint thanks to which Myne is able to function in the new world as more than just commoner. She doesn’t get some superpower or cheat items handed out though, no. She doesn’t even get an explanation about what is going on and has to put it all together herself. On the contrary of getting a cheat item, she straight out receives a debuff, being reborn into a weakly body. So while she can use her knowledge of our world to gather profit and status in the new world, she’s definitely unable to do it on their own, and has to depend on others to do the work. Of course, others won’t do what she says simply because they sense out her being a protagonist, she actually has to earn the trust, loyalty and resources. This works so much better than an universally likeable MC by anyone else than the obvious villain, which is the usual case. It also gives the secondary characters a chance to shine, as they have their own goals and motivations and stand out as actual people, not just background cardboard cut-out.

Even Myne’s ability to be able to actually recreate items from our world is explained (as a reminder, average person from our world wouldn’t know how to make everyday items despite using them), and this serves not just as an excuse for the plot to work, but also as a writing tool to deepen and showcase her relationship to others. Later in the story some might claim that Myne Is turning into an overpowered Mary Sue, but I’d have to heavily disagree with that. Firstly, her abilities were once again not simply handed out to her, but mostly earned through her actions and decisions, even is sometimes unintended by Myne. Secondly, considering the situations she finds herself in and her already existing debuffs (or perhaps at this point one could call them well written character flaws) makes it that the current Myne isn’t OP – it’s more that she has the bare minimum resources to be able to survive, both socially and literally.

This ties in to the main themes of the novel, as some might be surprised this is mainly about business and politics. Again though Honzuki stands out by doing things differently – the protagonist isn’t a genius ‘I’m already 500 moves ahead of you fool” protagonist. She simply has her goal and being involved in business and politics was a by-product of trying to achieve it (thanks to which the inclusion of these elements feel completely natural) and has to take literal lessons to be able to navigate through those unfamiliar systems. Honzuki isn’t the type of novel where you see clever schemes and plans and execute them to the reader’s satisfaction, although you might observe the other characters doing exactly that. No, rather than that, Myne is an oblivious but resourceful girl that serves as ball of unintended chaos wrecking plans of others and not even noticing it many times, to reader’s great amusement. So while Honzuki might not be so great for readers who seek mainly action based series, I would suggest it even to those usually not fond of politics-based series as it has quite unusual approach to it. And fear not, there are action scenes here too, and when one comes, it gives some really nice thrill.

Regarding other characters, I’ve already mentioned how they actually have their, well, characters. This I can prove by me actually remembering the names even of minor ones despite Honzuki having a huge character cast and despite me usually struggling with remembering names – though that usually being caused by the non-main characters being boring, and this isn’t the case here. Honzuki is even the rare occasion for which I would absolutely recommend reading the side stories too (which are thankfully included in the English licensed volumes), as they delve even more into the side character side of thins and actually complement the main plotline greatly. I’m usually inclined to skip side stories, but those here are delightful to read, and it’s also fascinating how much more can you learn about characters when told through non-protagonist point of view and how much depth that can add to both the characters, the story and the worldbuilding.

And yes, finally the worlbuilding, the other biggest strength of Honzuki next to the characters. I’ve already mentioned how you can imagine the world really well while reading this series, and this is thanks to not only to how it’s written, but also thanks to it consistent worldbuilding that just keeps making sense. This isn’t just medieval Europe with magic thrown in like with most fantasy worlds, this truly feels like other world and even makes it a point multiple times how our common sense simply doesn’t apply – point so big you could even call it a plotpoint, considering how this affects Myne’s behaviour and progress. Indeed, Myne has to consciously try to not come off as, using her own words “creepy little girl that knows too much” to others that actually have common sense of the new world, not of our.

I could point out much more specific scenes that made me love the novels, but this review is already long enough and I would also like for you to discover them themselves. I of course recommend this series without a hesitation, though I should also warn you it might become quite addictive, as the moment I caught with the English volumes I longed to enter the world of Honzuki once again, almost immediately going to the manga version to ease the pain a bit, and I’m sad to thing that I will at some point run out of more new material tied to the franchise to read.

We all love books, right? What if we died and went to a world where books are so darn expensive only nobles can buy them? That is what happened to one young woman, and this is her story.

Story: So, the middle ages was a dark time. Filthy and unclean people everywhere, no toilets, bad food. And worst of all, books were a luxury for the rich. I thought the first volume was boring. The protagonist is a five-year-old girl, literally. She can't even wipe her own bum. I felt sorry for her, I wanted to know if the poor Lil bastard was even gonna survive ... long enough to see a book, let alone get her own bookshelf full of them. And that's probably how it's supposed to be. This series is slow and packed full of details of everyday life. Do not expect an "adventure in a fantasy world" story. It's all about a young girl working the hardest she can and slowly going after her dream.

Art: The art is fairly rough and not very high quality but it's still hard to complain overall because the illustrations match the story enough to know what they are trying to show. Angry, sad or even a stupid derp face, it's good enough but nothing special. Update: I want to add that the art style did grow on me, and I quite enjoy it after 3 volumes.

Characters: The main character is a little girl. Sure, she has the memories of her old life before being reincarnated, but it's still a five-year-old child. Fan-service? Romance? Please, she can barely walk down the stairs and go outside the building. She cries and screams a lot, she relies on others to do almost everything for her. If you don't like this character, you won't like the books. But if you do grow to like her, it's so satisfying when she finally makes progress, even if it's just being able to walk around the neighborhood without getting sick.

Then there's the young boy who is usually the one to look after the little girl. He is strong (for his age) and kind enough to care for her like a big brother. Not kind enough to let her run around and do whatever she wants. I like this character, he's very realistic and pretty cool (for his age).

Overall, I don't know what people would like this light novel series... Book nerds (like me) might find it interesting when it's about making paper. (big part in early volumes) But overall I think anyone would be able to enjoy this heartwarming story. It is fantasy, and it is isekai (another world). But with a lack of magic, monsters, and antagonists it's still so different from anything I've ever read before.

So, yeah. If you like stories that focus on characters rather than a plot line, this is definitely worth checking out. There's no real goal, no enemies to defeat and no places to go. Everyone grows up with dreams, this is simply about a girl working to make her dream happen.

**This review is only based on the web novel not the light novel**
**contains some spoilers**

Welcome to another episode of manga reviews, I am your host Pokyqu!

I very much enjoyed ascendance of a bookworm. By far the best thing about this novel is the world building and the chapters with character perspectives other than the mc!

Structure

Part 1 was wholesome, a bit of a slow read at times but satisfying exploring the mc relationship with her family as a commoner in the medieval like world she was reincarnated into with a little bit of an educational kind of thing going on dr stone type vibes. Part ... 2 introduced a set of new characters in the setting of a temple. Parts 3-5 focused on the life as a noble and the house of lords (magic school) and politics of the world. I like the way it is structured, the plot developing with each part but some parts are better than others. imo part 2 + 3 were the most fun as it contained world building but still included new characters and some of the older characters.

Characters

Ascendance of the bookworm had a very pleasant cast of characters from her time as a commoner till the end as a noble. Most were quite interesting and likable especially when given the treat of a chapter with another characters perspective. An issue that I believe that the novel had was that in the later parts mostly parts 4 + 5 there were too many characters being introduced in quick succession. Most of the names of the characters are "noble names" which are intentionally long and hard to pronounce/remember not to mention the "Gods" in the story so it took me quite some time to distinguish the large cast of characters which weren't eased in to the story like characters from the earlier parts. Another concern I have is a lack of focus or priority for certain characters most notably the antagonists. Georgine who was set up to be a major villain mastermind type since part 3 who was defeated off screen, Gervasio a major villain who seemingly out of nowhere showed up in late part 5 and was displayed as a significant antagonist in terms of power and influence was also beaten chapters after his introduction off screen, same thing with the prince of Island and Detlinde very disappointing antagonists even tho most of them had a lot going on with them in the narrative. Other characters just got too much or too little focus that didn't make sense. For example Kartlsted/Elvira and their family, Florenzia and the fuedal lord family not being involved more in part 3. As well as characters like Hildebrand who had a great amount of screen time but only was really a plot device like Letzia but with double the appearances. I would have liked to see more perspective type chapters but I believe there will be much more for the light novel.

Lore

As a result of the long confusing names and lore as well as reading the web novel via google translate a lot of details were missed in the translation. However the lore and world building are very interesting with good fantasy elements and I'm sure will be a much smoother experience when reading with the light novel. Part 5, specifically in the final arc saw a large amount of lore dump and felt very rushed towards the end.

Conclusion
Rating : 8 /10

Overall Ascendance of a bookworm is a well written novel although sometimes the author gets excessively descriptive. Details are sometimes difficult to follow with long names and lore dumps at part 5 but due to being read from poorly translated web novel a lot of the details would go underappreciated. Its an engaging story with great plot, world building, and a likable cast of characters. Although I have my criticisms with some characters mostly the antagonists, rushed final arc of part 5, most of these will likely be fixed in the light novel with even more perspective chapters which are extremely enjoyable. I'm sure if I read the light novel version I would've enjoyed it even more! Highly recommend :)

This review was written a year ago, and is based on the first 16 tomes, the fanbooks, and the side story volume that take place at the start of part 4. Since then, I've come to read up to volume 30, and my opinion is even much more positive than back then. Way more. This serie is my favorite since long, but it still never cease improving, which is a very weird feeling. Anyhow, this review is old but I'll keep it that way to avoid spoils still.

As probably many, I discovered this serie with the anime. I considered it an enjoyable and cute ... watch, and especially liked the characters, as they felt goodhearted and thought out. It simply was nice to see. Just so you get an idea, I voted the S1 7/10, which by my standards is very good. Right after watching it, I jumped to the novels, certain that it will be great, and oh boy how wrong I was ; I did not find a great story, but an absolute masterpiece that shook me to my very core and is for sure my favorite story listed in this website. What happened? After all, this merely is the story of a book loving girl getting reincarnated in a place without one in her reach. It isn't anything special, beside the irony of following such a main character, considering how addicted I was while reading it, as I literally jumped from my bed every morning to read more.

First of all, the world is perfectly well thought. From it's culture, history, wildlife or religion to the daily life in many different castes, towns, duchies even ; Everything has been properly given concern. This story is a slice of life in it's purest sense, and many aspect of the life of many characters are detailled. Not in a boring or long ass descriptive way, mind you, the elements simply come with time as the story progress, and give life to the characters.
As you guessed from the synopsis, the story itself is simple enough, but has many good ideas and turns. I'd love to go into the details there, but will not do to avoid spoilers. I will just say that the serie quality never deteriorate, quite the opposite. It start amazing and the ongoing part 4 is so far my favorite. All that come along with cute and fitting art from You Shiina.

But to me what truly shine in this serie isn't the above points. It definitely is the characters, starting from the protagonist, Myne. She is extremely proactive and has a clear goal she would do anything for and keep progressing toward it, but is not blinded by it despite her obsession. She remain curious and very enthusiastic toward many other things, and do not hesitate to take other steps to improve her quality of life or help others. Her enthousiasm, sociability, good-hearted and honesty alone could have made the perfect usual bright and lovable fool, but she also have been gifted with something so many stories have forgot : A functional brain. I'm not saying that because she's doing 4d chess or anything ; she simply think. About how to make things go her way, about the intention of others, about her new world and environnement. She simply successfully show both an heart and a rational mind, and know where to direct her energy. She also of course remember her old life and many things from earth, and use her knowledge and way of thinking she aquired there, but at the same time constantly learn from her new life and encounters. Did I mention that she's the cutest thing ever? Or the strength of her resolution, as she show that she would rather die than live in a way she doesn't wish for?
I could go on, but putting it simply, she is the best protagonist any story could aim for. No matter what she's doing or where, she will successfully make it interesting, be it simply by her enthousiasm, her reasoning, the reaction of others to the mess she sometime make, whatever. Even making ink or literal work will be fun. And that, that is the best quality any protagonist, any person, can have. One scene I'm very fond of literally is just her comparing her relatives to household furnishings. Can you believe that? Myne, to me, is an ideal, a truly inspiring individual.
And yet, the others characters do not fall behind. They all live, and the occasional bonus chapters from their point of view really add to the story. Many could actually be good protagonists, and that's because they aren't superficial plots devices. They have their story, opinions and point of view, are interesting. It all make their interaction with Myne feel genuine. It really feel like their entiere life is thought about, day by day, and because of that everything they do feel autentic.
On thing that follow from the protagonist and everyone around being so nice is that if someone come to admire her for exemple, they will have proper reasons to do so. We're not in a certain slime isekai where everyone would give their life to Rimuru after one random interaction, or in some romance where the concept of love is thrown toward protagonists that didn't do anything to deserve it. Everyone think and live, and therefore, this kind of one directional actions will not happen.


At this point I think you got it. This isn't a review, but an open love letter. I am ever so grateful toward Miya Kazuki for writing such an amazing serie. I strongly believe that someone creation is a display of their soul, and what I see is a hard working, profundly kind hearted and compassionate person. Toward @Mr_Quof, for traslating it all in english with passion, creating an ever so rare in japanese media -especially so in light novel- very good and fitting translation. Toward You Shiina for her illustrations. From the bottom of my heart, thanks you.

Don't even ask me foolish questions like if it's worth reading at this point, whether you know the anime or not, just go ! And from the start, of course ! I won't hear any excuse. If you're worried there's too many tome or that the serie seems too long, don't worry, you'll soon think otherwise.

This series has a lot going on, so I wanted to review it. At the time of writing this I have read all the English LN volumes (up to part 4 volume 1). Throughout this review comparisons will be drawn between this series and other isekai since most of the interesting aspects of this series can be seen that way.

I am going to ‘oversell’ this series. Don't take that to mean this is an inaccurate review though, I will be as accurate as a I can, but it is hard to accurately review this series without making some generalizations due to its uniqueness. If you ... haven't read this series and don't want high expectations of it being put on you, turn back now. TLDR, this series is excellent (however you need to stick with it/read the whole thing for it to pay off, and its long). Spoilers.

Isekai anime are not a paragon of innovation and quality, however Bookworm is just that and in general highly enjoyable. It could even be said that Bookworm is the ultimate isekai due to how ingeniously it utilizes the structure of the story its advantage, Bookworm is far above its competition in the isekai genre by such a degree it is laughable. Bookworm is by no means classical literature, still the presentation and story are tight where it feels like it is.

Now forget everything I just said because we need to go over everything wrong with Bookworm. Contrasting with earlier made statements, there are some aspects of this series that certainly are not perfect and warrant mention. Firstly, this series suffers from "growing pains" that become visible as the plot continues. Most of these growing pains can be found in the world building changing as the story moves along. Initially, it is evident the author was aiming to keep the scale of this story on the smaller side or that they didn’t have a complete vision for what this world would look like. As events unfold it becomes evident that some aspects of the world established in the first part are rendered inaccurate. For example, inaccuracies can be seen in how the city of Ehrenfest is described as having a neighboring town across a river which is under the protection of a neighboring lord. This town and neighboring lord change, however, into a neighboring duchy ruled under a separate archduke, geographically being nowhere near the city of Ehrenfest. The author like ran into problems surrounding the world building in the series, resulting in problem such as these. There are a couple more instances of these kinds of problems with consistency, but ultimately these problems are small enough to not be noticeable to the point that they don't affect one’s suspension of disbelief. Yet, another set of problems of greater importance are the issues with the cast of characters. In specific, as Urano ascends from the lower to upper classes of society the cast of characters continuously increases to a point of slight discomfort. Personally, I think the author doesn't handle increases in cast size and changes in setting particularly well, sometimes forcing characters who shouldn't be relevant after a certain to remain relevant. This is most clearly seen with Uranos lower city family which, annoyingly, persist within as rather important characters in the story after Urano enters the nobility which undermines the climax seen at the end of part 2 of the series. Had the author been more decisive with this issue and instead cut these characters to a greater extent, it would have served to accentuate the struggle Urano undergoes at the end of part 2, transforming it from an emotionally charge scene to an emotionally charge scene that the audience can identify as significant due to its finality. In general, the cast of characters is somewhat bloated and can undermine character development. As far as issues go this is all that's worth mentioning (that I could find).

To understand why Bookworm is so special looking at the entire anime industry is key. While isekai at the time of writing this aren’t quite as popular as they once were there is no denying that isekai anime have enjoyed great popularity. In specific isekai that are adapted from light novels have been very numerous. As an isekai light novel itself, Bookworm is in a very competitive field.

Bookworm quickly presents itself as something well outside of the norm, however. This can be most clearly seen in the gender of the lead, Urano. Female leads among isekai are uncommon, with the only notable example being inuyasha. Additionally, inuyasha had a male co lead, which Bookworm does not have at all. Urano completely dominates the story as the main character. The entirety of the series is told from the perspective of Urano (with only a few exceptions). Due to the lead being female, unlike the commonly male lead isekai, Bookworm sidesteps isekai cliches and tropes. In general, as well, the female lead makes Bookworm refreshing for the genre by allowing someone to approach the concept of a foreign world from an uncommonly utilized perspective. This can most clearly be seen in the fact that there is no harem of girls always surrounding the lead, meaning that the superficial romances found in isekai are not present in this series, actually there is no romance at all and it pulls this off nicely.

The unique nature of this lead is further highlighted by her young age upon reincarnating. Child protagonists are also rare within isekai with jobless reincarnation being an exception (although Rudeus is even a child). Like jobless reincarnation, Bookworm uses the age of the lead to allow for a reasonable amount of time for them to adjust to the new world they have found themselves in. However, unlike jobless reincarnation, Bookworm builds on this and uses Uranos young age to throw a variety of struggles on the path towards her goals. This leads into how Bookworm addresses what I call the "convenience problem" within isekai. Isekai as a genre consists of leads who find themselves in exceptionally fortunate and convenient positions. You can test this yourself by looking at any given isekai and asking, "what could be the most absolutely disadvantaged position for this main character to be in upon finding themself in a new world?" If you do this you will quickly find that the lead of nearly every isekai are blessed with luck, skill, genius, wealth, good looks, and charisma (and plot convenience) upon finding themselves in a new world. That these leads retain their own bodies and can continue to use their own names is very fortunate. Isekais do all they can to make the culture of a new world insanely simplified and advantageous for the main characters it’s hard to stomach at times, all in service of making the plot nice and convenient. While I am not demanding that all series go out of their way to throw main characters into hardcore survival situations, this absurd convince of the story telling in isekai is most importantly just plan boring. If a main character finds them self in a pleasant situation, they don't have any need to explore the world they find themselves in or challenge themselves at all, no need to rethink themselves or consider their own values and priorities. But Bookworm shatters this norm. Urano, upon reincarnating, does in fact land in a disadvantageous position (though not worst-case scenario). Urano is reincarnated as a sickly child in a poor family in a filthy, undeveloped city. Myne, the person Urano reincarnates as, prior to her death had only spent her life inside, with atrophied muscles and a weak heart. Urano also must deal with an unknown, deadly, illness which she has no ideas regarding what it is or how to cure it. Her environment is completely devoid of her favorite thing, books, since she is now in a backwater medieval city with a near 0% literacy rate, high mortality rate and unsanitary conditions. Urano must cope with living with a family she has not known up until her reincarnation, and the realization she has lost her past life and family. Bookworm has enough roadblocks placed in front of Urano that it is impressive when considered wholistically. Even more important than these disadvantageous aspects of Uranos situation, is the way in which they are presented realistically and in a balanced fashion. This is because Bookworm never sets out with the intent of making a world for the characters to live in, the characters are made to live in the world and deal with it. Never does this new world seem unreasonably harsh nor does it seem unrealistically easy which, it maintains a balance between the lighthearted and grim aspects that make the world nuanced, deep, and most importantly, a reflection of our own world.

Bookworm further distinguishes itself from the crowd in how Uranos time and memories in the real-world affect her new life in this fantasy world. In specific, Bookworm avoids falling into another iseaki trope which is amounts to a superiority complex. What I mean by this is that isekai often portray the new world a lead themself in as "worse" than the real world to some degree (most typically on the grounds of science, technology, morality, and other easily observed things since most isekai don't even go in depth enough to begin discussing economics, culture, or education) and then use this superiority to enable the lead to easily achieve their goals. This can generally be summarized as the lead employing knowledge, they have of their previous life to ‘cheat’ themselves into a better life in world which is less developed. However, isekai do not try and reverse this relationship, except Bookworm. One of the central character beats of this entire series revolves around the turmoil Urano faces due to the friction caused by her old memories working against her in her new environment. Countless times Urano shoots herself in the foot by relying on her old memories and values. Urano is forced to reevaluate her own values and norms due to her new environment forcing her to do so, resulting in push and pull dynamic forming between her old values and the new ones she is being exposed to. This results in engaging character development where Urano must reconcile with the fact that she is changing in this new world as her values shift over time.

Another excellent aspect of this series is the descriptive world building. Bookworm fully utilizes the fact that the lead is a child by leaning into the natural expansion of the world as Urano comes of age and grows. Additionally, due to Urano being a child Bookworm basically locks itself out of focusing on combat for most of the initial volumes. By restricting its range of topics, Bookworm forces itself into unknown territory for isekai, fleshing out many aspects of its world from the bottom up. Likely, isekai commonly suffer from a disdain of the ‘mundane’ aspects of our world, instead focus on fighting and power systems because combat is easy to make interesting as it is a thing that diverges from the norms of our own world; however, this is flawed because beginning with combat is not a bottom-up approach to world building. No person after being born immediately expresses an interest in combat, people begin their lives by learning basic things through simple education, not combat. This means that iseaki which heavily utilize combat are missing countless basic foundational blocks for its world building, which often results in the world building and coherency suffering to a great extent. Bookworm avoids this by forcing its lead into the position of a child who, to survive, has no choice but to focus on fundamental aspects of the world it’s in. This world is a fantasy world, and we don't learn this for several volumes which I find amazing and hilarious. By limiting what it reveals over time Bookworm establishes a strong foundation that really begins to pay off exceptionally well as the volumes progress. Bookworm revels in transforming the ‘mundane’ aspects of our own world into objects of fascination for the reader. The world comes to life with economic and social classes, all with distinct sets of values and goals. New foreign elements are brought in over time, adding new cultures and agendas that interact with what has already been established. There is much more I won’t mention. None of this can be accomplished without an extraordinary attention to detail which Bookworm has in surplus. Bookworm holds nothing back in its quest for thoroughness as it fleshes out every aspect of the world Urano has found herself in. I would argue that Bookworm is not only the most detailed isekai, but also the most detailed and dense series I have ever seen that isn’t academic in nature. The amount of detail that goes into every aspect of this world is enormous.

Up until this point, I have mainly been talking in terms of generalities, but this review can’t continue unless I were to start referencing specific details and aspects which I can't do since there are too many things for me to cover, so I will stop here. To summarize, this is on another level fundamentally from everything in the isekai genre and many other works in general. 10/10

It's very interesting, but also very slow.

Also, the protagonist is essentially a bird in a cage, and what's more, she's kind of OK with that. As someone who loves freedom, this makes it hard to read. Combined with the aforementioned slowness, it's even a *chore* to read at times, but the world is super detailed and well done. It's extremely interesting but revealed agonizingly slowly.

Also, while not bad, none of the prominent characters are all that endearing. Protagonist included. There are a LOT of characters, and the story does a pretty decent job of conveying their individual personalities, but they are all kinda meh. Side ... note: I would very much like to read a similar story where the second most prominent character is absent (the inflexible extremely protective guardian), as he plays a major role in sucking the sense of adventure out of the story. The protagonist no longer discovers things on her own once he shows up.