Yamaku Book Club (20220124 Dish Washing)

[Comrade]

I'm afraid there's a limit on title length

[d2r]

OK, to discuss Numbered Days - the current topic of discussion according to the OP - it's actually my favourite of the fics I've read on the site as a whole. I find the idea of characters in a game becoming aware of the time-loop nature of their lives to be extremely compelling, as well as the pathos of Hisao's exhaustion from living the same ~4 months for a century (?) or more. I'm a sucker for metaphysical depression. :p

The story IS obviously written off of the Act 1 Demo (whence we get stuff like Hanako's mother being alive), but it's still quite engaging. He pretty much got all of the characters bang on, and any cases where they're out of character can be explained by the fact that they've been running the time loop for god knows how long. The ending does seem a bit contrived, but I like to think Hisao is deluding himself: time destroys everything - even love - and the promise of eternity will eventually grow hollow. In this regard I actually find it quite sad, which suits me fine.

I'd love to see a version based off of the full game, but recognize this is unlikely to happen. Although, consider: how much worse would it be to have Hisao blow his chances with a girl even more often than succeeding? For Rin and Hanako, there are two bad/neutral endings to one good, stacking the odds against Hisao, and in the case of Lily, he could doom himself to the neutral end months in advance and have to scream and rage in the prison of his mind about it. And love would eventually turn ashen when experienced so many times. But this is merely speculation.

[Oscar Wildecat]

Again, a day late and a yen short to a discussion. Oh well.

I liked Numbered Days overall, as while there are a number of fics that deal with the impacts of death and dying, this one few that approaches the question of what if you cannot die. (I seem to remember that, in the story, if Hisao deliberately nosedives off the roof or otherwise suicides, the time loop simply resets.) Given the fact that he doesn't even have the option of insulting everyone in the universe in alphabetical order, it would seem that exhaustion and insanity of sorts is extremely believable.

Imagine a version based upon the full game, especially given the differences between the early Act 1 only release and the final version. For example, in this story, Hanako's mother is still alive, while in the final VN, she's an orphan. If the possibility of Hanako's mother surviving the fire is based on whether or not he pulls her back in the time loop with him, what would the psychological effects on the characters be?

[Silentcook]

Not to be a dick, but please remember that this still applies in full.

[Sea]

Also, since the club is looking at different material all the time, perhaps that material should be mentioned in the title - kinda like how many of the longer stories get their new chapters and update date added to the title.

I second this idea. Title should be something like "Yamaku Book Club (Now discussing: Hideaki - A Tale of Manliness)".

That's actually a really good idea. It may even help bring in more people interested in whichever story is being discussed at the time.

It shall be done, also, but no one saw this coming but that shall be our new fic, it's official!

Not to be a dick, but please remember that this still applies in full.

Indeed, what part of it are we violating?

[Silentcook]

Some of the speculation edges a bit into "want to see this" territory, which as you know is a no-no.

[AntonSlavik020]

Absolutely loved the writing in this. Way to many great lines to quote anything in particular, but it's one of the funnier stories on the site. I'm always a fan of when a story is from someone's perspective other than Hisao's.

[Hoitash]

I like everything DanjaDoom has written, saying that right now.

As for this specifically, the different POV is certainly interesting, but the two main draws for me was Danja's humor and style. Sarcasm is probably a favorite form of humor for me, and mixing it with pop culture the way Danja does just makes it funnier. Now, is it accurate for people from Japan to be channeling the characters from an Adult Swim original series? Probably not, but, it's funny and entertaining, so I don't care.

That's an important aspect to this series in my opinion: Tale of Manliness is a slice of life vignette series at it's core, which I think works perfectly for both Danja's sense of humor and his overall writing style.

That said, it does hurt a bit how Hideaki treats Misha like a puppy with down syndrome, but other than that, if you like a laid-back story that's funny and refuses to take itself seriously, then this is the story for you.

[dewelar]

That's an important aspect to this series in my opinion: Tale of Manliness is a slice of life vignette series at it's core, which I think works perfectly for both Danja's sense of humor and his overall writing style.

I think that's true. Perhaps that's why Helbereth suggested reading only the first three for this cycle. The style is enjoyable in small doses, but trying to read too much of it at once started to wear on me. I won't say any more until discussion is actually open.

[brythain]

That's an important aspect to this series in my opinion: Tale of Manliness is a slice of life vignette series at it's core, which I think works perfectly for both Danja's sense of humor and his overall writing style.

I think that's true. Perhaps that's why Helbereth suggested reading only the first three for this cycle. The style is enjoyable in small doses, but trying to read too much of it at once started to wear on me. I won't say any more until discussion is actually open.

I… c-can't… taaaaaaaake any mooooooore!

[Sea]

Have I kept you in suspense long enough? I'm sure not much else needs to be said, but the link is up and ill be choosing the next fic, and after that, who knows.
LET IT BEGIN!

[AntonSlavik020]

This might be the most entertaining group of stories on the site. I didn't think stories from Hideaki's perspective would be very interesting at first, but boy was I wrong. The writing was absolutely fantastic. Honestly, the first one was my favorite, despite having the least story to it. That said, what someone said earlier is true. When I first read this in it's entirety, I read them in spurts, like about 3 at a time. Also, like every story with Shizune in it, my first question was whether or not she was dating Hisao, but the story likely works better without him.

[brythain]

I know people like ProfA are better at detailed dissection and discussion. What follows is thus only a summary from reading about two-thirds of the material. Played for laughs, it's fine. But I'm not sure it's the right Hideaki, psychologically. That's something hard to put my finger on because although we see a lot from his POV, we don't really establish anything deeper about him. So: fun, but like cotton candy—made me feel a little ill after consuming large amounts.

Why doesn't it work for me? He's played like an American pop-culture repository, something that makes Jigoro really seem like a Hawaiian caricature with a son who's from… California perhaps? Why that should be so, we don't know. Not to mention his rather unsubtle rudenesses to Misha (and everyone else, but I hate puppy-kickers) and his tendency to escalate here, when he seems generally to prefer avoidance in KS.

[Sea]

Alright, so for our next fic, I kinda liked what we did last time and everyone seemed to enjoy the story, so lets keep a good thing going, first one to post gets it!

[brythain]

I thought this one was worth thinking about…

A Bowl of Noodles, a Cup of Coffee, a Glass of Beer from themocaw.