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EP. REVIEW: Ascendance of a Bookworm [2019-10-26]


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ThrowMeOut



Joined: 10 Oct 2018
Posts: 256
PostPosted: Sat Nov 23, 2019 6:12 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:

Again, Lutz is 6. Most 6 years old still believe in Santa Claus, it's super easy making them believe anything. Hell the fact that magic exist is such an easy escape. "Oh some shooting start pass by and magic magic magic I had a bunch of knowledge I never had before". What is he going to do, call her out on something he literally doesn't know.


I'm not sure. It's pretty clear that six year olds in Bookworm's world are a fair bit more mature than six year olds in our world. They seem more on the level of twelve year olds. It's also mentioned that you're an adult at fifteen, and that many people marry then. So it could be that people in Bookworm's world just mature a lot faster, or perhaps their "years" are longer than ours. Though why it would make this narrative choice I have no idea.
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Gina Szanboti



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PostPosted: Sat Nov 23, 2019 7:35 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
The fact that she can't fool him is pretty pathetic ... it's super easy making them believe anything.

It was pretty clear that, after a moment's reflection, she didn't want to keep fooling him. They were going to be equal partners in this, not parent and child, together most of every day, and continuing to lie to him and policing everything she said was something she was no longer willing to keep spending her limited energy on. For most people who aren't psychopaths, constant lying takes a toll. Also it reveals a fundamental disrespect for the intelligence of the person you're lying to, which again was an attitude she did not want to hold toward him.

Listen to what she was saying: she would've been content to have him demand her expulsion, since she'd kept her promise to him, and was decidedly unhappy about her limitations in this world. When death seems like a reasonable option to you, constantly having to make up lies to fool an innocent child she considers a friend is clearly not on her list of must-do-at-all-costs priorities.
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mangamuscle



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PostPosted: Sat Nov 23, 2019 8:37 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
Lutz: How do you know how to make paper money?

Myne: I just talk to some merchant from another country at the gate.

Lutz: I never heard about that!

Myne: How many people from out of this town did you ever talk to?

Lutz: Hummmmm 0.


I added a word to add some context, because basically what Myne is doing is a process to make money out of trees. So saying some stranger casually for free told Myne (who last time I checked, is a no one in this world) how to make money, nope, it does not add up, having told her how to use chopsticks might get a pass, but even if some one told a six year old kid, making paper is the kind of process you have to at least have seen (on several occasions) with your own eyes to reproduce.
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Gina Szanboti



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2019 9:01 am Reply with quote
To add to mangamuscle's point, I don't think anyone in this world has made paper before. They use parchment and velum. That's why Benno is so willing to invest in her project. Also Benno is a merchant himself, so if plant-based paper existed, he'd be a thousand times more likely than Myne to have "heard about it" from some traveling merchant.
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meiam



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2019 11:41 am Reply with quote
Oh right, silly me. I'm sure Lutz, the six year old that has never been to school before or went more than 5 km away from the town (possibly never even saw paper in his life before, plant based or not), has a full grasp on the economic and relative technological level of the entire world. I remember six years old me had a pretty good idea of the advance manufacturing process used throughout the world. One time in kindergadren someone tried talking about making artificial diamond and we had a jolly conversation about it, he really had an interesting view of the process. Really just slipped my mind, is all.

I guess maybe their years are much longer than ours, but Myne has been there for a full years and hasn't mentioned that at all, you'd think she would comment on such a large change.

If you want to go the route of Myne not wanting to lie to Lutz anymore, then it would have worked soooooo much better is she was the one who approached him. It's just a wasted opportunity then.

Ultimately calling Myne out on her knowledge is a fine development, but Lutz is the absolute last person who should be doing it. If you claim it' because he spend more time with her, then her family spend way more time with her, and she's shown far more advanced knowledge to her family. This development would make so more sense coming from Benno, especially in a world with magical contract with nebulous working. The most obvious thing from his perspective is that Myne is working as some intermediate to try and get around a magical contract (i.e. some other person figured out how to make paper money, is bound by a contract that they want to get around and ask Myne to claim she invented it). For all he know he might be the one to pay the price for the magical contract. But nope, every adult just ignore Myne knowledge and Lutz is the only one to catch it.
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Probablytomorrow



Joined: 04 Aug 2019
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2019 1:02 pm Reply with quote
I expect there will come a point in the story where an adult will realize Myne isn't just a prodigy. I don't think you have to worry about that. But why shouldn't Lutz notice? He realized the truth because he's the only kid who's seen Myne talking to adults as an equal. That's a huge deal to a kid. He's the only one who's witnessed the sheer complexity of her paper-making process, and realized it's not the sort of invention a kid could invent.
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Alan45
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2019 1:58 pm Reply with quote
Depending on how closely the anime follows the books: spoiler[Benno shortly flat out asks Myne who are you? She tells him it is a secret he can't afford.]

I suspect that the family is intentionally in a bit of denial, especially since much of what she does ends up making their life a bit better.
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mangamuscle



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:09 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
Oh right, silly me.


But you are not alone. We (as a society) have become conceited about being knowledgeable when in fact most people have become sheep that blindly follow the leader without thinking by ourselves because we feel safe in the fold of the herd. Back then kids didn't go to school, but that means they didn't know how to read or do math, but that does not mean they were stupid. Recognizing when someone is telling you lies back then was more important since there was no police or social safety nets beyond your immediate family. It mas more important to asses the situation because you can bet people will tell lies to make you do without something as basic as the pair of shoes. Sure, Lutz is mature and level headed, but I think that even the kids that stomped on Myne clay tablets would see something amiss if they spent the same amount of time watching her do things no kid would do.

A favorite of mine is the scene where Myne gets shouted at place they went to get the wood. It is obvious that the baldie didn't want to waste time with a kid that had somehow convinced a rich merchant; but Myne not only hold her ground (instead of crying or cowering behind an adult), but convinced him in no time that she meant business. No six year old can do that and you don't need to go to school or travel the world to understand that.

p.s.

Was I the only one that expected at the final cartoony scene that instead of another short conversation that is reading Myne's mind, to have instead Myne do a Tanya von Degurechaff impersonation saying that she will destroy entire forests to get to build her dream world full of books?
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Leviathonlx1



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PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 6:26 pm Reply with quote
TarsTarkas wrote:
Key wrote:
Leviathonlx wrote:
Ascendance of a Bookworm can get pretty dark/grim which is partly why the author has a 'anyone under 15 shouldn't read this' warning on the novels.

This surprises me quite a bit based on what we've seen in the anime so far and what the opener looks like. Without getting into spoilers, are we likely to see that side show up in earnest before the end of the season given how the story is pacing itself so far?


I have read the first four translated novels.

Warnings for 15 year olds is way overboard. Possible timeline spoiler: spoiler[If the anime is going to show Myne's of age ceremony, then you will probably see it.]. But the idea that it is too much for teenagers and adolescents is beyond belief.


The more dark aspects start at the end of the arc that is currently being translated. With 30 volumes the first 5 are more an introduction to the world and characters.

spoiler[She does end up in the world of the nobility and things don't stay peacefu.]
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Key
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 7:48 pm Reply with quote
So does Myne grow up as the series progresses, or is it mostly about her at this young age? If this adaptation proves popular enough to warrant additional animation (and I dearly hope it does) then I'd be curious to see that process in action.
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Leviathonlx



Joined: 24 Oct 2019
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 8:10 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:
So does Myne grow up as the series progresses, or is it mostly about her at this young age? If this adaptation proves popular enough to warrant additional animation (and I dearly hope it does) then I'd be curious to see that process in action.


Over a decade passes and she does grow up though she's still somewhat smaller due to the reasons behind her frailty.
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Alan45
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 8:16 pm Reply with quote
@Key

So far there are only two volumes out hard copy. (I suspect more are available digital) They are oddly listed as Part 1 volumes 1 & 2. They cover about the first year. The anime should go well beyond that (we are already a couple of chapters into the second volume). On the other hand, Wikipedia reports that there have been 20 volumes of the novel version published so far. That would likely take her into her late teens or older.
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Leviathonlx



Joined: 24 Oct 2019
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 8:22 pm Reply with quote
Alan45 wrote:
@Key

So far there are only two volumes out hard copy. (I suspect more are available digital) They are oddly listed as Part 1 volumes 1 & 2. They cover about the first year. The anime should go well beyond that (we are already a couple of chapters into the second volume). On the other hand, Wikipedia reports that there have been 20 volumes of the novel version published so far. That would likely take her into her late teens or older.


The parts are mainly used for when a major event occurs in the story


Part 2 being spoiler[the major event of joining the Temple and meeting Ferdinand]
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Alan45
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 8:22 am Reply with quote
@Leviathonlx

Is that the blue haired character in the anime opening (and super deformed postscripts)?? I don't remember him being named.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 2:24 pm Reply with quote
Alan45 wrote:
Is that the blue haired character in the anime opening (and super deformed postscripts)?? I don't remember him being named.

Myne refers to him as "High Priest." I'm pretty sure we've not seen him in a story role up to now.

I take you're responding to something in the spoilers. Never read those, so I might not be answering the right question.
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