So this is a new series I picked up before the Covid-19 pandemic and I have to say that my interest was perked.

The Republic of San Magnolia has been under attack from their neighbouring Empire Giadian for decades. Piloting an army of unmanned drones, known as The Legion, they continually gain ground and bombard the Magnolian Empire.

After painstaking research, San Magnolia finally builds the same unmanned drones and turn the one-sided struggle into a war with no casualties, or at least that’s what the government proclaims has happened.

Under the surface of this bloodless war there are in fact fortified walls and squadrons protecting the Empire from destruction, they are known as the 86. Young men and women forced into conscription to serve and die under enemy fire, in the hopes of securing a better life form themselves and their families.

Stripped of their humanity and rights to be citizens of the Empire all the members of the 86 sector is wish for a quick and painless death. That is until Handler One takes it upon themselves to see that one platoon of 86 manages to survive and make it off the battle field.

So the good things about this novel. I loved the style of writing and the realistic approach that the author has taken with these characters. Believable and wholly able to sympathise and understand where they come from. I love the fact that we do not get the usual grovelling and simple acceptance that some Japanese light novels give. It gives the story a raw and darker turn and I loved that about this. Perhaps maybe due to the global pandemic but I am personally appreciating the different tone that this novel is giving. Plenty of descriptions and terrifying moments happen in this book. Do not go by my standards cause honestly I am an actual baby when it comes to anything dark or scary. The story pace was nice to read too, especially when you get past the confusion of what is happening in the novel.

There are very few things I have to say about this novel in terms of negatives. My only negative is perhaps the story was slow to build at first. A necessary thing in order to build character but perhaps it could have been done with a tad more action to the story. I personally found that the flow wasn’t as good and was interrupted with these small conversations and moments of tenderness.

My apologies to everyone on such a long delay in getting these out to you. I have been looking after my 76 year old Gran who has unfortunately had a nasty flare up of arthritis in the past couple of months. I am happy to report though that I have finished all of my coursework for university and I will be reading more when I get the chance to do so. I am hoping to have more regular weekly blog posts for you all. Until then stay safe and happy.

twirlsandcoco 😁😁😁

For this weeks entry I would like to introduce a different type of light novel compared to the previous novels I have introduced. Oregairu, also having been adapted into an anime, is sure to create a small buzz from those people who like a bit of romance and slice of life, but with a twist.

Hachiman Hikigaya is cynical and hates to trust people. As the school’s number one loner he finds it difficult to take life in high school, or anyone in his life, seriously. A school report gets him placed in the school served club. Here he meets the two beautiful but slightly twisted main heroines of the story. During the school year they are tasked with helping those who seek at the service club. these tasks can include helping with a school production or helping someone wanting to ask their crush out. There are plenty of topics to keep the club members are involved with but throughout all of this, Hachiman only seeks to help people in a more than dishonest way.

Things I liked about this light novel, or at least the beginning, is that this seems to be your typical loner in high school suddenly gets a variety of interest from the school beauties. Yet due to his rather cynical nature and personality he very rarely gets the opportunities that many other protagonists get. I liked this twist and was almost pulling my hair out for these characters not realising his true intentions. I also have to admit despite being this early in the reading I am all for both relationships progressing, which I have to say is a different place for me to be in. I am more for one to be a single person relationship only but frankly I can see both of these relationships working. Lets just hope Hachiman’s personality improves a tiny bit.

There weren’t really negatives about this book so far. I have high praise for the writing and also the characters and story development. Obviously there could have been a couple of changes but that is what makes this story so good. Great writing with a twist that normal characters probably won’t have is especially crucial to this growing market. Everyone wants to stand out but nothing will give you more views than a protagonist who is cynical and doesn’t even try to change.

If anyone would like to view this light novel here is the link. Of course there are only a couple of light novels that you can read in English online but I will be back with another post if you require another website to find more of them.

As for now I hope everyone stays safe and healthy during this terrible pandemic. any comments would be greatly welcomed.

twirlsandcoco

So for the past six months I have been diligently trying to read the web novel of the Shield Hero. Stemming from the fact that the web novel has a different pacing as well as slight variations from the web novel I was intrigued to see what it was like. I have to say that so far in the light novels there has been no change, but this might change in later books once I eventually read them. If you would like to read about the Rising of the Shield Hero online here is the link.

As per the novel there were a few things I loved about the storyline, world building and character development which was oh so gleeful to read and there were a few rough points that is more of a stylistic choice. Overall I would throughly ask people to read this free web novel before diving into the light novels, simply because, I am a slight cheapskate when it comes to reading and also because who doesn’t love reading free online content?

The things I loved about the web novel was that i could see a clear direction that the characters went on and there were a few tears shed too, but overall there was an enjoyable read and the journey didn’t in my mind progress to slowly or too quickly. I loved the writing that the author of the web novel has used as it gets to the point and actually helps the reader. For those who are not new to Japanese writing most of the time the cliche is that the protagonist is so dense that even atomic particles would have a better chance of doing the right thing. It’s a trope that I loathe in writing and I will avoid these tropes if I can so help it. I like a smart and independent protagonist. I love the fact that they do not need to rely on anyone else and I hope more authors are able to clearly move and write more for this trope. It is satisfying to read as the protagonist gets it.

The world building I feel probably could have been a little more descriptive? Again thats a stylistic choice and probably suits me more if I have a clear view of what when and where my characters are. The people and characters created all feel real and properly planned. No one was just dumped into the book save for the last boss, who I did feel was a little forced but there we go. Each person had a distinctive persona to the book and added certain “flavours’ to the story.

The only negative I have with this web novel, and if the light novel follows through then it’ll be with this too, I felt like Naofumi could have eased up a little with his way of thinking. Now I know that might just be because I prefer slightly more lenient protagonists but there were a few instances where the author could have tweaked Naofumi. That is the only grievance I have with the story. It might be the only complaint I have. If you have read the book I am glad Naofumi did hold the grudge that he did but there was one instance where I do feel like there could have been a few variable tweaks. I will not get into these details as spoilers are a major pain in the neck. You shall not get them from me!…unless I have already done so in my posts then I will be more cryptic from now on.

I hope you enjoyed the post and you’re all doing well during the Covid-19 breakout. Stay safe and healthy everyone.

twirlsandcoco

So I have in fact read ahead a little bit on these light novels now. The second volume gives more exciting content than the first book does.

Naofumi and Raphtalia have successfully managed to help block the second wave of destruction from wrecking havoc on the country of Melromarc and have also managed to save the nearby village from total annihilation. Everything goes well until a specific douchebag and offending party try to rectify this situation. Raphtalia, now grown and aware of what Naofumi has gone through stands up to save him. After dealing with troublesome pests Naofumi re-visits the slave dealer only to gain some new friends, a Filo Rial, and a troublesome new skill.

So the good things about this book was that finally a sense of justice has been given to Naofumi, it feels great after the other heroes come to help. I loved how we are given the new companion to the group and how much trouble they all get in. I also loved the fact that a certain romantic blockhead gets his butt absolutely kicked and that Naofumi is finally able to trust people. Perhaps not to strangers but I can see some small character growth which is great for the story progression. Also the new companion, not to give spoilers but SPOILER AHEAD, Firo is the damn cutest character I have ever seen in a light novel. she is basically a puppy but in bird form and I cannot deal with it. The light novel even has a drawing of her once she’s hatched and she literally is just a puffball with eyes. She’s just so damn fluffy. If you ever have the opportunity to get a physical copy of this book get it for Firo realness.

Onto some more negative things about this book. Not that there are any negatives because all scenarios and characters have been created to be irritating, however I am starting to see a very clear pattern in the thought process the author has used. If this trend keeps up in the later volumes I will be commenting on it later but the way Naofumi thinks and analyses situations is already a nitpicking point that I have to point out. Many might disagree with my views but then again why don’t you leave some comments and I’ll be happy to hear of anything you give?

Hope you all are having a brilliant week. Stay safe from the Corona Virus guys!

twirlsandcoco

My apologies again for the lateness in posting. Getting sick is never fun and the common cold has taken me down one after another in the past month or two. My poor immune system sucks balls. How has everyone been in the long wait? Did your Christmas Holiday go well? School?

So onto the actual reason why you are reading this. I have to say my reading for this has waned a bit since I started. If you love to read about military weapons, tactics and machinery then this is the light novel for you. I have read the first novel, hence why I am writing, and I was very intrigued with the whole premise but the dense descriptions of weapons and tanks is a bit of a headache.

The whole premise is that a military nerd Nagato Kazuya is transported to another world (nothing new here) and when he gets transported he gave himself a set of rules. With these rules and with a near to modern day military power he sets out to conquer the land he is now living in. Did i also happen to mention that there is a Yandere advisor?

So as for the good things about this. Loved that there was action in this story, it had pace and wasn’t stagnated at all. There is a constant need for action or something being revealed and that made the reading far easier to keep engaged, unlike Re: Monster (coming soon). The protagonist has set himself a goal and is thankfully making efforts to combat the things in his way. As for the characters themselves I feel personally they have been well set out. each has their own motive, despite the soldiers Kazuya summons. I find the Yandere love in this to be almost comical in the story, I would also like to add that the twist this gives was nice to read.

Onto the bad things about this novel. Transported to another world cliche often revolves around some Japanese man or woman being thrust into a fantasy type setting and doesn’t have the guts to do anything but blend in with their surroundings. Unless you are reading a hero summoning then you really cannot expect the story to progress more than that. It’s a simple life that honestly just gets boring if you don’t try anything daring. The other cliches that come with these stories end up with the protagonist crying, being enslaved or just generally having rotten luck until they “magically” find their lucky point and boom get over powered far too easily. I can almost feel that the story might take a turn for the worst so I am unaware of what cliche might come up next.

I hope to keep you all informed about this decision sometime in the future. Until then happy reading.

twirlsandcoco 😁

So I am officially back from my rather long hiatus from this blog. A surprise trip to see my girlfriend in the States prolonged my return so my apologies for not letting any of you know. I also have a significant amount of university work that needs to get done but there shall be nothing that stands in my way to making sure I give you guys some content.

Now when I found this book on Amazon the title was what gained my interest. Partially because at the time when I found it, I was a little sad about losing a grandparent to Pancreatic cancer and also because it was a very funny book title. Having the read the blurb I bought and thought great this will arrive in a couple of weeks give or take. So guess which idiot accidentally forgot about the book for like two months? Now this said idiot also didn’t check the shipping address and found out from their girlfriend that they had sent to them. Yes ladies and gentlemen I did in fact not check any of it. So during the Christmas holiday I decided to read it whilst at my girlfriends.

So whilst reading this I was intrigued by why the pancreas was the main plot point of this novel. Then I realised that it was due to this young woman living with a killer disease, not specified in the novel, and she doesn’t have very long left to live. A chance encounter by the main protagonist reading her diary of all things, pushes the both of them to become friends. A wild meal out and a trip to a different area of Japan makes the two of them realise they might just be a little more than death friends.

I think that this book really had no downsides to it. The story was carefully thought through, all the characters given a chance to shine as well displaying a large amount of growth and the story had enough detail in each scene to not feel boring or over powering. I really was just a bubbling mess by the end of it and I would throughly recommend this to anyone who seems even remotely intrigued by the book. As for the characters well I was in love with both of them but oh so irritated by the end of the book, but that’s what makes this a great book. We the audience/readers do not want to be given the scenarios so easily.

I have also done a little bit of research but there is apparently an anime/movie that came out two years ago. I have yet to find a place that hosts this but when I do find it I shall but it down in the edit box.

Hello everyone and I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was terrific and I spent most of it eating sweets and plenty of trimmings from the Christmas Dinner. I just wanted to let everyone know that I do have a couple of deadlines for assignments coming up over the next two weeks so I will be halting on my uploads for now. When I have finished most of the assessment stuff I will upload two posts and treat all of you to terrific content in a short amount of time.

Until then I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their Christmas Holiday/Vacation and I will see you all in the New Year!

🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊🎊🎊

Ok so I went into this series thinking what on earth was this going to be about. Initially I thought it would be about having a son complex, as in the woman wanted a son. Ohhhhhhhhh boy was I wrong. So as it turns out Son-con actually stands for son complex. Which basically means that the mother is a bit too touchy feely and emotionally attached for her own good.

You might now be wondering why on earth I’m even suggesting this type of story to read and honestly I think it might be due to the fact it was new and different. A twist on the “Harem” genre and infinitely funnier at all the interactions that happened between the characters.

The story focuses on the main character Troy who is reincarnated into a fantasy world different from his original one. He fell into a river and drowned because for someone reason the author chose to let the character drown and not learn how to swim? Anyway he is reincarnated but before he’s sent over ‘God’ talks to him and tells him if he would like a choice between two mothers. One being a yandere and the other being a tsundere, which basically translates to former being psycho-killing-love and the latter being I-refuse-to-tell-you-how-I-really-feel. Due to his idiotic lack of reception the god decides to give him both of the mothers. Thus presenting this weird plot line.

This story has thus started off on a good foot but let us hope that it stays that way throughout the other 20 volumes left in the series. I shall keep all of you posted on this weird but fabulous tale.

If I wish to check out this story here is the link.

Ok I know what you’re thinking. YTwirlsandcoco you’ve posted again late but there is method to this madness and I chose today to be giving you the best news absolutely possible and that is…….I love harem light novels. I’m kidding. Or am I? Best to tell you I’m probably not but there we have it. I’m utterly mad 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂.

So whilst I was browsing for extra light novels to read I decided to check out my Chrunchroll account because lmfao I decided I wanted to be up to date with the anime season this year. A certain frustration has appeared at not being able to watch anime episodes back to back but there is also something wonderful about watching anime and seeing what people think about the episode as it happens.

Soooooo…..back to my point. Whilst I was scrolling I found out that Infinite Stratos actually got turned into an anime!!! 😱😱😱😱😱 Chruncyroll only had season 2 so off I went into the unknown that is the internet and found the first season, which I will have to say was flipping fantastic. Funny and elaborated at the right points about all the IS and what they could do. Although just from the first couple of episodes it was missing a certain style that the author had chosen that the anime I think, didn’t do the light novels justice. (not so secret I have read further novels in this series but will be published at further points in the month)

I shall now end my awkward post like so

TWIRLSANDCOCO

Hello again my beautiful people on the internet it is twirlsandcoco here wishing you all a brilliant December. On today’s agenda I am here to talk to you all about a brilliant new series that I have only today just started to read.

Infinite Stratos is about highly developed exoskeletons named Infinite Stratos, which can be said is the new technological advancement of the generation. Far surpassing any military grade weapon and defence system it is the ultimate “device” to have on planet Earth and created by the brilliant scientist Tabanae Shinonono. The IS, short hand term, are distributed equally amongst all the nations on earth can are unable to be used as weapons so what does the world do then as a way of keeping the peace? Host it as a sporting event instead.

10 years after this invention has been released to the public our story begins with the most dense boy in the world Ichika Orimura. The little brother of the world famous Chifuyu Orimura, the first and unofficial second, winner of the IS sporting tournament, known as the Mondo Grosso. He has been enrolled into the IS Academy to pilot and learn all about the IS system and hopefully take his place amongst the brilliant pilots that have come before him. His aim it to finally be the one supporting his sister instead of it always being the other way round. After his accidental screening with the IS suit he is enrolled into the Academy to begin his High School Adventure.

Where is the plot twist you may be asking? Well as it has become known throughout the book the IS can only be operated by women, causing a radical change in power balance between women and men. If that wasn’t enough Ichika is the only known male in the world who can successfully operate the IS.

Thoughts and opinions with this series so far is that if you’re a fan of harem light novels or anime then this is one I would throughly recommend. Not just focusing on the romance between the characters but on the character building and the world itself. A very good read and I’ve already started blitzing through the second novel so just wait for the next update and I’ll be splurging all the details.

A side note for those who are reading this blog do you want me to start a Harem folder? I may be adding more of this genre for the time being until I get into some of the other genres. Please do comment your opinion below.

Bye for now

twirlsandcoco