青春ブタ野郎はサンタクロースの夢を見ない

Rascal Does Not Dream of… Light Novel #13

by Hajime Kamoshida, 鴨志田 一, Keji Mizoguchi (Illustrator)

ちょっと不思議な青春物語――「霧島透子」の正体に迫る第13弾!

「麻衣さんは僕が守るから」
「じゃあ、咲太は私が守ってあげる」
咲太にしか見えないミニスカサンタは一体何者? 真相に迫るシリーズ第13弾。

Genres: Light Novel, Manga, Slice Of Life, Romance, Fiction, Fantasy, Supernatural

326 pages, Paperback

First published July 7, 2023

Reviews

[Eddy Celin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely blitzed through this in a day, granted it's only 180 pages, but I adore this series, and Sakuta Azusagawa is probably in my top 3 favorite protagonists of all time.

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

This premise has pretty much run its course by this point, and the series is only continuing on the strength of its characters. It seems that this was the beginning of the series finale.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

wellp, my frantic reading to catch up to where the anime left off so i can find out how the story ends without having to wait for the movie is done, and i'm ready to move on to the parts of the story i don't know yet... and i'm not gonna lie, as dumb as it probably sounds, i'm super nervous! i know shit is about to get very real.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda feels like we’re running around in circles, and nothing gets solved on the Touko Kirishima problem. Just keeps greeting worse. We did solve one problem at least. Guess I’ll see how the last two books evolve. This one was rather quiet, but I do have hope there’ll be exciting revelations later on.

[FaDoug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another perfect book in the "Rascal" series, who could have guessed?

"Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus" was particularly engaging thanks to its love of red herring and subverting expectations. This was the first novel where I found myself really getting surprised by everything that was going on. I'd spend an entire chapter totally convinced I knew what was going on, and then *WHAM*, it turned out I was completely off the money and the truth was all that more bizarre. It worked really well and had me captivated the whole time.

And now, with this character's arc over, I have to wonder what's going to happen next. There's only a few volumes left and I'm incredibly excited to see where everything goes from here! Keep 'em coming baby!

[n1cklz · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10

top 3 novels in the series so far
i loved the drama once again and sakutas journey to find out what has been going on with nene and the touko kirishima personality and the writting and pacing were very well done
also the naration on the final dramatic moment and during the conversation between takumi and nene made me very emotional and it really showed the series at its best with it
overall i really hope they dont fumble the ending since there are only two very short volumes left (120~ pages each) and i dont know how they will (hopefully) explain and resolve the adolescence syndrome and the touko kirishima problem
if everything is explained in a satisfying manner this might end up being one of my favourite series oat

[Tomek · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one, perhaps it was a little anticlimactic in some respects, but I found Nene's story very compelling, and the answers we got engaging and satisfying. I once again respect the author's ability to tie in foreshadowed elements through minor details.

It's hard to say too much on this volume since I let the momentum carry me right into reading the next one. Still I really love how expansive the cast and world of this story has gotten, and how it really feels like no detail is truly left behind.

I very much enjoyed how this volume built and set the stage for an engaging finale, one I'm very excited to read.

[-moonprismpower- · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume had to be the weakest of the whole series. But I still adore these characters and want to see what happens in the end. Speaking of the end, there are only 2 volumes left. Vol 15 will be the final one… I can’t wait to see how the author ties it all together. They seem to be really good at making all the pieces fit. It’s definitely going to be bittersweet.

[Kayleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

When you think about it, most of the volumes is girls dealing with the fact that no one can be as perfect as the protagonist's girlfriend. This poor girl is even copying the disappearing act but instead of bunny girl it's a sexy santa costume - an obviously inferior choice. Being overshadowed by Mai's fame and losing her local stardom she breaks up with her boyfriend and hides from the world refusing to accept being second to her. Thanks to our brave hero she reunites with her boyfriend and they both come to terms with the misery of having to lead happy life together. I know it's aimed at teens and I'm overthinking it but the drama feels really disproportionate to the situation.

Hard to see her as a victim but of course we learn that she was in fact not the villain of the last few volumes as if the conspicuous mysterious maybe-friend wasn't an obvious twist waiting to happen from the first volume she appeared in. Having read all the volumes so far one thing I know for a fact is there are no red-herring characters so it's obviously her - although no idea how she fits into the ever expanding platonic harem.