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I really love puns, though I'm much better at coming up with them than catching them. You get an A for catching the pun!

Misaka's envy of her mother and Misaki was apparent during the last arc, so I guess I was just a little surprised by the intensity of her concern. I probably shouldn't have been, considering it was a comedic episode.


It's certainly a good thing that Saten is nothing like Satan (though Uiharu may beg to differ at certain key moments.)

That's rough, but it makes sense. Libraries in my area closed in March, but then reopened for drive-by pickup in mid-April to May. I think my library has been actually open since June (though honestly they probably reopened things a little too soon in my state.) I was also lucky since my university library never closed. At least they are really pushing for mask wearing.

I was just reminded that Brandon Sanderson often releases small portions of his book on his website for free reading. If you want to check Mistborn out that way, here is the link to the prologue (the links to the first three chapters are at the bottom of that page.)
https://www.brandonsanderson.com/mistborn-prologue/

Bungou Stray Dogs has a character based off Osamu Dazai. I assume the short adaptation of Book Girl also references No Longer Human, though I haven't seen it, only read the novels. I thought it came up a little more often than that, but I must just be exaggerating it in my mind.

Adulthood is lonelier, and I'm lucky enough to have a great family and good friends from high school and college that I still keep in touch with. There's definitely a reason high school is so often revisited in fiction, including anime. COVID definitely hasn't helped in that way, though as an introvert I'm sure I haven't noticed it as much as lots of other people have.

Anyway, here are my three book recommendations! The first should be easy to find, the second probably easy to find, but the last may be harder to locate.
1 - Mistborn: The Final Empire, by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn is a fantasy heist novel set in a world where ~1000 years ago the hero failed in his quest to save the world. The world has storms of ash from constantly erupting volcanoes, plants are no longer green, and the sun and sky are red. Mistborn follows a young street urchin named Vin, who becomes an apprentice to the world's formerly most famous thief, Kelsier. She, like Kelsier, is a Mistborn, which lets her burn metals she has ingested for magical power. She joins Kelsier and his reassembled group of thieves as they attempt to overthrow the Lord Ruler, who has reigned supreme since the time of the hero's failure.
I'm calling the book Mistborn since most fans refer to the first novel in this trilogy by that same name, but its technical name is the Final Empire, so be aware of that when you are searching for it from a library. Mistborn has a tight, clever plot filled with twists that seem organic. Its magic system is both intricate and original, probably like nothing you've seen before. I may be overselling it a bit since Brandon Sanderson is my favorite author (he even lives in my home state so I've met him in person several times,) but there's a reason he's currently one of the world's top fantasy authors. Most fans agree that Mistborn is the best introduction to his work.

2 - Leviathan Wakes, by James S. A. Corey
Leviathan Wakes is set in our Solar System about 400 years in the future (I forget if they give an exact time.) Earth has united under a single government, Mars has been colonized and has its own government that isn't particularly friendly with Earth, and the asteroid belt has also been colonized and parts are engaged in terrorist warfare with Mars and Earth, seeking independence. It follows two main characters: James Holden, an officer on an ice hauling vessel, and Joe Miller, a detective on the asteroid Ceres.
I haven't read the Martian, but Leviathan Wakes is a very solid science fiction novel that doesn't conveniently ignore physics when it gets in the way of the story, which I'm guessing you would like based on your comments about the Martian. It's mainly plotted as a thriller, with some strong horror elements, so be aware of that going into it. Leviathan Wakes is the first novel in the series that was adapted as The Expanse, which I've heard good things about but haven't seen myself.

3 - No Longer Human, by Osamu Dazai
I don't think I need to give much of an introduction to this book, since I'm sure you've heard of it several times while watching anime. I picked it up since it was referenced so often and quite enjoyed it. It is a semi-autobiographical account of the author's life, and is a bit of a depressing read, but definitely well written. Be aware that both sexual assault and suicide are addressed. It's also by far the shortest book that I'm recommending at the time.

Let me know if you have any questions about any of these books (or if you dislike all my recommendations and want some different ones.)

That's definitely true of the Encyclopedia Brown books, though as you said, the solutions were clever. I have no clue why they don't give quality prizes to adults. There are a lot of things about how life changes from childhood to adulthood that don't really make sense beyond "that's the way it's always been." What type of books do you like? I'm always happy to give recommendations!

Encyclopedia Brown books always frustrated me just as a kid, since I rarely could figure out the mysteries on my own. I sort of wonder if they would be any easier now, though it would be hard to tell for sure since I suspect I have some vague recollection of the solutions. I currently have one copy of a Nancy Drew book on my bookshelf (The Moonstone Castle Mystery) though I may have more in boxes at my parents house (or inherited by them in reverse.) I mostly got books from the library as well; I still have the same addiction to libraries. If I go in to return books instead of just dropping them off, I generally end up walking out with more books than I returned. I enjoyed the kids reading programs, though I gradually grew out of them as the prizes became less and less exciting (you can only use so many bookmarks.) I think my local library actually has an adult summer reading program, but I've never bothered to sign up, though I probably should at least see what the prizes are. Maybe they'd forgive some of my library fines!

That's neat that you were a Hardy Boys fan as a kid. I think Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books were the first chapter books I read. I loved them in elementary school. Though I don't think I was ever organized enough to make certain I read all the originals, I read a ton of both series, many of them several times over. I even remember that I wanted to give some to a friend for their birthday, so my Mom bought a set of six from the store. I already owned part of that set, so I was planning to give the ones I didn't own, but they got mixed up so I gave the friend the ones I didn't have and ended up with double copies.

Your manga comment reminded me to put the Railgun series on hold at my local library! Luckily it looks like they have them all.

I think you are missing a couple narrators there. If you don't include them all, the ones you forget will definitely say nasty things about you behind your back. What did you think of the latest episode of Railgun?

You were not lying in the least when you said that Konohana Kitan was filled with wacky faces. That anime is a veritable gold rush of weird facial expressions! It is a nice, comfy slice-of-life, though it is a bit odd that it has more bath scenes than the average ecchi.

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll let you know what I think about Konohana Kitan (I'm in the mood for comfy slice-of-life, even though I just started re-watching Flying Witch with a friend.)

You bring up two P.A. Works anime that I haven't actually seen! More things that need to go into the mental priority queue of my Plan to Watch list. I agree that KyoAni feels a lot like fantasy even if it is set in reality. You are always waiting for a magical moment to happen. P.A. Works tends to feel like reality even when it is in an explicitly fantastic world, where the existence of magic is everyday. Since that is my favorite type of fantasy, no wonder I really like P.A. Works.

For me, I think the reason I liked Flying Witch more was its sense of humor. All the jokes of Flying Witch hit home for me, while the humor of Non Non Biyori wasn't precisely my style. The age gap probably also influenced things.

That is hilarious that I assumed you had actually looked up star sand and informed you about it as a result. Serendipity at its best!

I think I must be the target audience of P.A. works drama anime, since their studio gets 3/10 of my favorites. I've always thought of them as a sort of successor of the KyoAni storytelling style, even though they were producing similar anime at the same time. I'm really excited for The Day I Became a God and hope that it channels the same style that I love. It would be nice if it got them to go back to making more drama originals.

No other anime is as comfy as Flying Witch. People often recommend Non Non Biyori as the cream of the iyashikei crop, but it's never been able to capture me (hence sitting on my On-Hold list forever.) I also agree that the world of Irozuku was pretty interesting (the same goes for the world of Nagi no Asu kara.) It would be nice to see future anime set in those same worlds, especially with all the work they did creating them. Also, I had no clue that star sand was a real life thing!