Emily Chambers > Recent Status Updates

I think I really just dislike Chinatsu.

(I’m also curious about the difficulty translating formal Japanese vs informal to English, and how that affects our reading of the text and characters like Chinatsu)

If you’re bouncing off Part 1, stay around for Part 2. Reflective, somber, and moving.

Plot twist: childhood stalker, not reincarnated stalker
(Does that make it better or worse?)

I worked it out: there’s no chemistry between Shūichi and Chinatsu. She comes across borderline stalker - nice, but obsessed. Shūichi shows no interest in Chinatsu, and is given no reason to. He contemplates dating her like someone who is unable to think outside the box and see any other options available to him. He grows interest her because she is obsessed with him. It feels like watching Baby Reindeer.

I’m struggling to buy-in on the narrative so far.

The premise doesn’t resonate for me (reincarnated lovers, gender swapped, one remembering and one not), and the main character feels derivative of the protagonist in Days at the Morisaki Bookstore. Uncharitably, it reads like one of those werewolf ‘fated mates’ narratives, where the LI is unquestioningly in love with the Mary Sue protagonist.

We’ll see!