Enjoy your youth to the fullest, you will look back at it someday. As a grow-up adult right now, I also feel that way.
So this novel caught my attention when I saw an interview with the author, Hiromu-sensei. There, he talked about a lot of interesting things, but what immediately caught my attention was what he said about if you make a protagonist which is a handsome, popular boy, and he already knows the girls, you wouldn't have to write all the same clichéd stuff about boy-meets-girl and whatnot, pretty much the standard romcom light novel starting point.
I was sold when the synopsis said that
...
the protagonist was a popular handsome-looking guy, instead of the average, loner, antisocial protagonist, man these words always haunts any romcom synopsis you ever find.
So I started reading the first volume and it was so interesting! It was truly a refreshing take on romcoms, to have a riajuu (or normie, whatever you like) as the main character. If you feeling frustrated about romcom's protagonists being the same average guy, with low self-esteem and all the same bullshit traits you've seen a million times, you will probably like this novel. I'm aware that some people didn't like the protagonist (his name is Saku Chitose, I will refer to him as Saku now), I've seen people claiming he was cringe, too arrogant, a prick and other things. Honestly, I can't understand them. I tried but couldn't. I mean, there you have, a romcom protagonist with actual personality and defining traits that diverge from the standard. His monologues were really funny to read, his interactions with people, all I see is a confident popular guy, so that's why people found him cringe? Because he actually talks normally to people, flirt with girls and act like a human being instead of stuttering like the usual? That's weird....
And for those that think he's the perfect handsome guy, it's actually far from it. I can't talk more about that without spoiling it, but he has his own problems and is far from perfect.
Now, let's talk about the main thing: the plot. Man, if you go only by the synopsis, you will probably think it's something like Tomozaki-kun. Well, the first volume really have some similarities with it, mainly the conflict between this social hierarchy in school between riajuus and the lower caste like otakus and whatnot. I could see people not liking this approach, of Saku trying to rehabilitate this shut-in otaku that don't come to school by teaching him some stuff. But I thought of the execution done way better than Tomozaki-kun, especially because this conflict only lasts one volume.
Yeah, you read it right, the main plot isn't about Saku teaching this shut-in otaku about how to become a riajuu or something like that. The main plot is actually about enjoying youth to it's fullest, and you really feel that with the author's narration style. His prose is really good and unique if you compare it to the average light novel's writing. You can clearly imagine these japanese teenagers enjoying high school in a rural city and all the other things that accompanies the daily life of high schoolers like love, friendship, what you aspire to be in the future and other dilemmas like sports activities. The author is from Fukui City, which seems to be a lovely rural city in Japan, and the story happens there, and you can really feel yourself immersed in this town that you never saw in your life, you feel the love the author has for his hometown poured in the novel because he writes about commonplace things of his city.
Sports can be pretty relevant to the story, and it's so amazingly done, if you are a fan of sports manga, you will love some parts.
One thing you will often see in this novel are the characters using metaphors, especially about ramune bottle and the moon. Man, these metaphors really make you think about stuff, and it was the intention of the author to do that so everyone can interpret it their own way, so the novel has a lot of re-read value. You will see characters talking or thinking about reaching out to the moon, it basically means someone that seems really close but is so far away, its something that people yearn for. The other way around, you have the ramune bottle, and as you can see in the title of the novel, "Chitose-kun is in the Ramune Bottle", it means that for some people the main character, Chitose, is like the marble that is inside the ramune bottle (look it up if you don't know what it is), something that seems close to the eye through the plastic or glass surface and you could reach it, but it's actually unreachable.
There's something weirdly nostalgic about reading it, like I said, the author's writing style is amazing and it really helps set the mood for some parts of the novel. I felt a tinge of melancholy sometimes, also happiness, nostalgia, sadness and I definitively laughed a lot with some scenes. The characters are so charismatic, their interactions are pure gold, Saku with his remarks are tremendously funny. Characters you thought would be the same clichéd evil characters used to create conflict turned out be more fleshed out than that and also good people at their own way, basically flawed, real people you see everywhere. There's a sensei character in this novel that is outright hilarious, his remarks about some stuff made me laugh out loud, he is a really good oji-san type of character if you know what I mean.
At the point I write this review, I read 4 volumes of the novel, and man, now I can confidently say its the best romcom light novel I've read to this point. It's unfair to compare it to Oregairu (my fav romcom to this day) because I would compare the anime of Oregairu with the novel version of Chitose-kun, but if you ignore that, I really think Chitose-kun has the potential to surpass Oregairu as my fav romcom in the future.
Each volume kept getting better, and vol 4 was the culmination of all of it. It was truly one of the best book I've read. So in case you didn't like vol 1 that much, keep reading, at least until vol 4, it's the culmination of a lot of build-up the main character had each volume (it was really a pleasant surprise to see a romcom protagonist getting that much characterization with his backstories building his character, something you rarely see in romcom novels)
If you are looking for a unique romcom novel that is about enjoying youth, tired of the same stuff you see everyday, give it a try. I can't promise you will love it as much as I did, but why not give a it a try, right? Honestly I'm not the type of guy to write a review, especially a long one, this is the first time I'm willing to do something I would not bother, and why is that? Because I felt an urge from the bottom of my heart to spread this novel to more people, that is my most sincere sentiment. Thanks for those that read it all, you guys are amazing.
Nov 28, 2022
Chitose-kun wa Ramune Bin no Naka
(Manga)
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Enjoy your youth to the fullest, you will look back at it someday. As a grow-up adult right now, I also feel that way.
So this novel caught my attention when I saw an interview with the author, Hiromu-sensei. There, he talked about a lot of interesting things, but what immediately caught my attention was what he said about if you make a protagonist which is a handsome, popular boy, and he already knows the girls, you wouldn't have to write all the same clichéd stuff about boy-meets-girl and whatnot, pretty much the standard romcom light novel starting point. I was sold when the synopsis said that ... |
