If you're reading this review, you've almost certainly learning Japanese and this book has been recommended to you to assist with learning. To that end, I've split this review into two sections. Skip below to read my thoughts on reading this book for learning Japanese, or continue to hear about my thoughts on reading it for fun first!
Review of the plot and reading for fun:
Zentendou is a fun collection of short stories that is sure to engage the mind and leave you with wonder for who Beniko-san is what other types of sweets and candy she sells in her store.
Each story in the book focuses on a protagonist that is facing some sort of predicament in their lives (ranging from mundane children's fears to genuine real-world problems) when they're lucky enough stumble upon Beniko-san's Candy store.
After entering, Beniko-san greets them pleasantly and finds the perfect candy to help them solve their problem - but there's a catch! When the characters don't follow the instructions properly, strange things starting happening...
Whilst sometimes slightly predictable, I found these short stories enjoyable to read and filled with mysticism and would recommend this book to others to read.
Review of reading this to assist with learning Japanese:
When researching for books online that help you learn Japanese, this book is almost always in the top three good books to start with... but to be honest, I'm really not sure why it's so highly recommended. Whilst fun and engaging, there is a wide, wide array of vocabulary that you will definitely have never come across before. So much so that unless you spent your entire education to this point learning about obscure words, you're likely going to need to go extremely slowly or have a dictionary on you, open at all times.
The book requires an N3 level of knowledge at a minimum to be able to get by at any reasonable rate, but frequently includes grammar and vocabulary from N2 and N1. Personally at the time of reading I had an N3 grasp of knowledge, and flagged approx. 700 words in my dictionary as being unknown and needing to follow up / study later. It was also rare that I went through a page where at least half the sentences didn't have words or grammar points that I hadn't seen before.
If you're picking up this book as one of your first 5 novels or at an N4 level or below, you might want to think twice about reading this just yet and instead go for something easier such as graded reader. If you've just passed N3 or are at a comparable level, you should expect to go slow and to need to look up a lot of grammar and vocabulary as you're going along, however don't let this dissuade you as I genuinely think that this will be a fun read that you will remember.
Happy reading!