What do you think?
Rate this book
A Sister's All You Need #2
A Sister's All You Need., Vol. 2
Sister-obsessed author Itsuki Hashima is embroiled in a bitter struggle with his popular series Sisterly Combat. Between video games and mixed baths and cherry blossom viewing and making up excuses for his editor, he's slowly but surely making progress on his manuscript. Somehow, he and his unique collection of friends--Nayuta Kani, Puriketsu, Miyako Shirokawa, and his little brother Chihiro--manage to stumble through life together. And not only that, but his friend Haruto's series has finally gotten an anime!
224 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 17, 2015
11 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 2, 2026
Somewhat less light-hearted than the first volume. Writing is, after all, hard work. ;) But still fun and crazy--and illuminating about the workings of Japanese publishing. (Brrrr, the Creators'/Lockdown Room!)
I've jotted down only one highlight here (but there were certainly more):
https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...
I've jotted down only one highlight here (but there were certainly more):
https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...
October 21, 2018
It feels weird to say but a book with the name A Sister’s All You Need Volume 2 might actually be one of the most entertaining books I've read this year.
Like with the first volume, the story has absolutely nothing to do with sisters, instead, it's a slice of life comedy about a young author and his friends. They play tabletop games, drink specialized beers, travel around Japan and generally have fun. In this volume they actually do some work as well, revealing that professional writers actually do something more than hang out with their friends all day.
It also worth mentioning that the quirky tax accountant from the first volume makes a return, a personal favorite of mine.
Like with the first volume, the story has absolutely nothing to do with sisters, instead, it's a slice of life comedy about a young author and his friends. They play tabletop games, drink specialized beers, travel around Japan and generally have fun. In this volume they actually do some work as well, revealing that professional writers actually do something more than hang out with their friends all day.
It also worth mentioning that the quirky tax accountant from the first volume makes a return, a personal favorite of mine.
March 23, 2019
This series is full of trashy people (except Miyako) but god help me......I like it....
June 26, 2025
Just wrapped up volume 2 and wow! What a way to finish this volume.
First of all, the return of the Chronica Chronicle for a part 2 (the DnD game they're playing) brings me great joy. As I've stated before I love the way this series indulges itself; whether it's describing in great detail the light novel industry, exploring the main character's fetishes in humorous detail, or spending entire chapters describing board games and even setting the narrative within these games (like with Chronica Chronicle). It makes for such an entertaining read, which happens to support the other key aspect I love about this series.
The way this series crafts emotional moments is really impressive. I chalk it up to a few things, 1) the real-life setting allows for a more natural flow from scene to scene. There isn't any obvious climactic moment the narrative builds towards, rather these emotional moments can happen so suddenly and hit you like a truck. And, 2) the fact that this series spends a lot of time indulging in fun allows for my emotional investment in these characters to build.
This is super apparent with the Haruto anime disaster chapter (ch. 25). Leading up to the first episode's release, Haruto spends time with Miyako, Nayuta, and Itsuki all at Itsuki's place. They play Chronica Chronicle, then have dinner and drink expensive beer, all while indulging Haruto's maid fetish by everyone dressing up for him. They do all of this because they understand that Haruto likes these things—that sense of friendship is at its strongest here. So, when the first episode of his novel's anime adaptation airs, and turns out to be utter garbage, a cathartic emotional wave washes over the scene. When Haruto bursts out into tears in frustration that his life's work has been tarnished this way, followed by Miyako bursting out into even more tears because she sympathises with Haruto, the emotions hit like a fucking truck. This scene is definitely a highlight of the series thus far.
I love that sense of community. I love that these characters are willing to understand each other, despite their surface level weirdness. I resonated very strongly to the way relationships are developed in this series.
First of all, the return of the Chronica Chronicle for a part 2 (the DnD game they're playing) brings me great joy. As I've stated before I love the way this series indulges itself; whether it's describing in great detail the light novel industry, exploring the main character's fetishes in humorous detail, or spending entire chapters describing board games and even setting the narrative within these games (like with Chronica Chronicle). It makes for such an entertaining read, which happens to support the other key aspect I love about this series.
The way this series crafts emotional moments is really impressive. I chalk it up to a few things, 1) the real-life setting allows for a more natural flow from scene to scene. There isn't any obvious climactic moment the narrative builds towards, rather these emotional moments can happen so suddenly and hit you like a truck. And, 2) the fact that this series spends a lot of time indulging in fun allows for my emotional investment in these characters to build.
This is super apparent with the Haruto anime disaster chapter (ch. 25). Leading up to the first episode's release, Haruto spends time with Miyako, Nayuta, and Itsuki all at Itsuki's place. They play Chronica Chronicle, then have dinner and drink expensive beer, all while indulging Haruto's maid fetish by everyone dressing up for him. They do all of this because they understand that Haruto likes these things—that sense of friendship is at its strongest here. So, when the first episode of his novel's anime adaptation airs, and turns out to be utter garbage, a cathartic emotional wave washes over the scene. When Haruto bursts out into tears in frustration that his life's work has been tarnished this way, followed by Miyako bursting out into even more tears because she sympathises with Haruto, the emotions hit like a fucking truck. This scene is definitely a highlight of the series thus far.
I love that sense of community. I love that these characters are willing to understand each other, despite their surface level weirdness. I resonated very strongly to the way relationships are developed in this series.
January 19, 2019
Sometimes, I still wonder how this got published, but this semi-autobiographical take on a light novel author's trials and tribulations remains quite the read.
While the title definitely makes it sound like some sort of fanservice baiting (and it DEFINITELY does include enough fanservice to be 18+), it's really more of a slice-of-life type of story that's coupled with pretty good character drama.
The 2nd volume, after establishing the pivotal characters, delves in to their professions and expands it. I especially loved how this novel took a topic as dry as income tax reporting and made it to something compelling, while also teaching me new stuff like "hometown tax".
There's a lot of meta commentary thrown about, and the author doesn't hold back at name-dropping other prominent titles, but still doesn't alienate less-knowledgeable readers. Maximum enjoyment is definitely only for veteran otakus however.
One criticism that I have is probably the disjointedness of the chapters, which comes to as no surprise due to the anecdotal nature of each. Nevertheless, the sense of continuity remains there, and the characters really do shine past much of its faults.
This might one of the best titles that Yen Press has in its catalogue, albeit much more targeted for a certain group of fans.
While the title definitely makes it sound like some sort of fanservice baiting (and it DEFINITELY does include enough fanservice to be 18+), it's really more of a slice-of-life type of story that's coupled with pretty good character drama.
The 2nd volume, after establishing the pivotal characters, delves in to their professions and expands it. I especially loved how this novel took a topic as dry as income tax reporting and made it to something compelling, while also teaching me new stuff like "hometown tax".
There's a lot of meta commentary thrown about, and the author doesn't hold back at name-dropping other prominent titles, but still doesn't alienate less-knowledgeable readers. Maximum enjoyment is definitely only for veteran otakus however.
One criticism that I have is probably the disjointedness of the chapters, which comes to as no surprise due to the anecdotal nature of each. Nevertheless, the sense of continuity remains there, and the characters really do shine past much of its faults.
This might one of the best titles that Yen Press has in its catalogue, albeit much more targeted for a certain group of fans.
July 13, 2019
I'm extremely late writing this review. But I really did enjoy it & learned a lot about taxes from this volume. I swear I want to just rewatch the anime series to see all this play out. :)
I plan to get the next volume in the future. :)
(Took me some time to read it, a bit on & off since I was busy with work & family.)
I plan to get the next volume in the future. :)
(Took me some time to read it, a bit on & off since I was busy with work & family.)
May 1, 2020
Fun slice with a little more direction than the first. This one had me laughing out loud a lot. Still feels a little on the short side for me.
September 21, 2019
Series continues to put our characters in some fun, albeit not too memorable scenarios while not really progressing the major plots (the final line hints at a major switch up for next volume though that could help jump-start the romantic drama). I enjoyed it about as much as the first volume, though the "tabletop game" portion wasn't as fun this go round (Itsuki kind of ruined it with his guesswork too, lol, so it wasn't as intriguing as it could have been for the in fiction players too).
There was a lot more detail I found intriguing about the light novel world at large, some of it sounding outlandish or exaggerated, other parts sounding realistic (for instance, Haruto's whole experience with getting an anime adaptation of his LN series seemed ripped out of this year's headlines with Arifureta; and the whole history of the "white case" anime preview video for authors despite it being a jewel case DVD these days was interesting).
There's still some random excursions and details, like the types of beer the characters drink, cherry blossom picnic (that again is more about the picnic and company than the setting), or the food Chihiro prepares.
There's still not a ton of progress towards any goal for anyone. Haruto at least gains more resolve for his task of writing a novel on Itsuki's level, or at least something that will be the headliner of an anime season and the focus for a studio. Chihiro's secret is still well kept, but... We'll see how long she can keep it up. Should be safe next volume with the focus seemingly on Miyako, but again, we'll see. Nayuta was much more of a "fun" character this time around, not much in the way of drama from her side iirc (she gets a bit grabby in this one, a bit of a content warning there; you'll see that in the preview images). Setsuna also more of a background character this time too (everybody has their own focus chapter, but his is fairly superfluous, he just has Itsuki help him with his... Ass-perations of inspiration).
Series continues to be something that is different from what I normally read in terms of pacing and plot progression, much more focused on the cast's casual slice of life moments. Itsuki continues to be more of a blank slate real life character, us not getting too much detail of his thoughts on everything going on with his friends besides what we can see in his actions or verbal grumblings (particularly when it comes to his editor Tiki's deadlines or when it comes to his works not matching his friends' sales or talent).
There was a lot more detail I found intriguing about the light novel world at large, some of it sounding outlandish or exaggerated, other parts sounding realistic (for instance, Haruto's whole experience with getting an anime adaptation of his LN series seemed ripped out of this year's headlines with Arifureta; and the whole history of the "white case" anime preview video for authors despite it being a jewel case DVD these days was interesting).
There's still some random excursions and details, like the types of beer the characters drink, cherry blossom picnic (that again is more about the picnic and company than the setting), or the food Chihiro prepares.
There's still not a ton of progress towards any goal for anyone. Haruto at least gains more resolve for his task of writing a novel on Itsuki's level, or at least something that will be the headliner of an anime season and the focus for a studio. Chihiro's secret is still well kept, but... We'll see how long she can keep it up. Should be safe next volume with the focus seemingly on Miyako, but again, we'll see. Nayuta was much more of a "fun" character this time around, not much in the way of drama from her side iirc (she gets a bit grabby in this one, a bit of a content warning there; you'll see that in the preview images). Setsuna also more of a background character this time too (everybody has their own focus chapter, but his is fairly superfluous, he just has Itsuki help him with his... Ass-perations of inspiration).
Series continues to be something that is different from what I normally read in terms of pacing and plot progression, much more focused on the cast's casual slice of life moments. Itsuki continues to be more of a blank slate real life character, us not getting too much detail of his thoughts on everything going on with his friends besides what we can see in his actions or verbal grumblings (particularly when it comes to his editor Tiki's deadlines or when it comes to his works not matching his friends' sales or talent).
September 19, 2019
An interesting development near the end that makes me excited for more. Blending reality with fiction, this second volume truly captures the reader's heart at its highs and lows.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews