Elzburg Reviews

Sourpuss by Merricat Mulwray My rating: 5 of 5 stars RTC . Until then, my notes and initial thoughts upon finishing this book (followed by Quotes I liked ): • what the fuck? • what? • i like the main character because she's an asshole just like meeeeee • seems like this is set in some kind of alternate dimension where things work out nicely (everyone loving Mal despite her being a raging asshole, (view spoiler) [setting a world-mother-fucking-record (hide spoiler) ] ). Except then everything goes to shit (view spoiler) [(everyone hates her and her record was fake) (hide spoiler) ] • wtf was the ending tho • did they literally (view spoiler) [get buried alive (hide spoiler) ] ??? What the fuck?????? • also did James fricken (view spoiler) [kill his mom??? At the very least he definitely beat her till she passed out (hide spoiler) ] • what the fuuck • this book had a few funny lines 👍 • wait they pulled a ME, dawg, and (view spoiler) [killed they main c...

School Rumble, Vol. 5 by Jin Kobayashi My rating: 3 of 5 stars This was the sportiest volume!! (Good!!) But it was handled in a way I didn’t like!! (Oh no!!!!) This volume opens with a focus on the girl on the cover, Karen, who’s a veteran amateur wrestler. She’s insanely strong and good at what she does, however since it’s not “womanly” she’s embarrassed about it which is something that makes me really sad! And other characters are creeped out about it and scared of her because of her skill, which makes both her and myself feel even worse!!! God damn it, Japanese society!!!!!! Why do you gotta make a girl feel bad for being good at something like that? Tsk. This volume also teases the upcoming sports festival a lot, so that’s exciting since I’m a track athlete myself (and there are many track events at said festival). There are zero anime/manga about sprinting as far as I know, so I’m always excited for sports festivals since that’s the only place I can see m...

School Rumble, Vol. 4 by Jin Kobayashi My rating: 4 of 5 stars This volume was good since it was still funny and the situations still entertaining, however the quality of these has decreased since the last volume. Basically: The giggles came far and few between. Since the two main characters in this series (Tenma and Harima) are bona fide idiots, misunderstandings are inevitable, which is perfectly fine and can lead to funny gags. The problem with this volume, however, was that Kobayashi took these gags too far and stretched them out way too long to the point where the whole thing just became annoying. The particular misunderstanding didn’t last the whole volume, at least, so basically every other part of this volume except for the last annoying part of that misunderstanding was entertaining. These reviews are getting shorter and shorter the deeper I get into this series... But no one really cares, so it's alright ha ha, ha... ha... Please consider g...

School Rumble, Vol. 1 by Jin Kobayashi My rating: 3 of 5 stars In today’s episode of Elz Reviews : School Rumble ... Did an oopsie. Previously, in This Book Review : Holy shit. The first chapter ended my life. I was laughing so hard I was crying and I couldn't even try to keep reading because looking at the page just kept knocking me out. This first gag is so funny oh my god. Oh… oh no… What happened? Three stars? Oof . The first two chapters: Great. Good stuff. Super funny, loved it. The rest of the volume? Ehh. Not… Great... Kind of disappointing, not going to lie. This is the manga of the greatest anime of my youth, something filled with memories of laughs and gaffs and which created a rare opportunity to bond with my brother. So, what went wrong? To answer that, we must first examine what went right. The first two chapters in this series are great because they are humorous introductions to two of the main characters in this series...

School Rumble, Vol. 2 by Jin Kobayashi My rating: 4 of 5 stars This volume was very fun and quite entertaining—more so than the first volume for a couple reasons: My expectations in terms of how much it was going to make me laugh was lowered greatly, and because there was more of a large story going on as opposed to being a volume full of one-off gags. Because the first two chapters of the first volume were god-tier in terms of comedy, it raised the standard for the whole rest of the volume to a level which it was unable to meet again which is why it ended up being disappointing. This meant that going into this second volume, my standards were a lot lower, so I didn’t mind if it wasn’t making me laugh as long as it was entertaining. Happily, it was that, at least. I think my prior experience and familiarity with the characters probably contributed to my entertainment (I had watched the anime back when I was a wee little girl), but there was a specific thin...

School Rumble, Vol. 3 by Jin Kobayashi My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was the best volume so far!! This is what I was expecting to read when I picked up the first volume! It never gave me any hardy laughs, but that’s okay since it had me consistently giggling throughout the entire book instead. Volumes of other series have been able to do both of these, but I’m happy that it seems like School Rumble is finally finding its footing and getting itself up to speed. This volume still deserves its place among those five-star books because it perfectly intertwined said giggles with a great continuous storyline. What makes this series so entertaining is its continuity. I think we’re all very much used to comedies having one-off gags that end up having no impact on the characters or overarching story, and the way that School Rumble breaks this mold is so satisfying and makes everything that much more funny. Please consider giving this review a "Like" if...

2018 on Goodreads by Various 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 And thus concludes yet another year on Goodreads and in life. This wrap-up will continue my regular format of a summary of the highlights of my year off and on Goodreads, followed by my Elizabeth’s Choice Awards . Life Second year of University: Started, and halfway done! I’ve been up and down emotionally the whole year, but at least I’m currently up!!! Seeing the person I like training with a kid we coached together was so cute and made me so happy that it literally pulled me out of my depression. Even though my affection is both a secret and unrequited I don’t even mind because at least he always makes me feel really happy, and for someone as emotionally unstable as me this is really important and worth it. I thought about quitting track at the beginning of the semester, but thanks to my good friends in different training groups I kept looking forward to when we would start travelling together ...