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カゲロウデイズ [Kagerou Days] Light Novels #1
Kagerou Daze, Vol. 1: In a Daze
Shintaro Kisaragi is about to have a terrible day.
After two years of being an unemployed shut-in, Shintaro Kisaragi is forced out of his room and into the wide, uncaring world by a disastrous series of events involving his computer's keyboard and a bottle of soda. What begins as a simple errand soon spirals out of control as his luck turns from bad to worse. It starts with a hostage situation and only gets weirder from there--and it turns out Shintaro Kirasagi isn't the only person whose life is going to be changed forever this blistering summer afternoon!
After two years of being an unemployed shut-in, Shintaro Kisaragi is forced out of his room and into the wide, uncaring world by a disastrous series of events involving his computer's keyboard and a bottle of soda. What begins as a simple errand soon spirals out of control as his luck turns from bad to worse. It starts with a hostage situation and only gets weirder from there--and it turns out Shintaro Kirasagi isn't the only person whose life is going to be changed forever this blistering summer afternoon!
184 pages, Paperback
First published May 30, 2012
44 people are currently reading
413 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
May 25, 2016
Kagerou Daze is a light novel based upon the songs of the vocaloid project of the same name. I went over plot basics in my review of the manga adaptation. For this review of the light novel (which I am pretty sure came first) I will give my praise and criticism for how well the author adapted the original songs.
The light novel and manga actually covered the same ground pretty much, which is rare, as manga tends to cover less area per volume than the light novel it adapts. That said, the mangaka did cut out some information that was more extraneous and thus not really easily taken from prose to manga format.
This information gives the reader some more insights into the various characters, especially the two main protagonists, Shintaro and his sister Momo. Some of the reactions some might have to these characters from the manga (which was released prior to the novel by Yen Press, who got the license to translate and release both of these) were either enhanced or changed. No, you don't have the same chilling pictures of what Momo endures, but you do see inside her head. On the other hand, you see just how messed up and in need of some help Shintaro is.
For the rest of the Mekakushi Dan, you see the true dynamic of how they interact in the novel in a way the manga glosses over, at least in the first volume. This is no knock on the person adapting the LN, as some things were better in prose than comic format, and vice-versa. Attack on Titan seems different in it's prose format (LN) than the original manga, and the anime has differences from both, for instance.
But the above-noted differences are what made this LN worth reading. The characterization is stronger, while the aesthetic sense and visuals are stronger in the manga. Here we really learn what the characters think, feel, and so on, (at least as much as the author tells us in this book) in a way that makes them so real. Shintaro, Momo, Kido, Kano, Marie, are all so much more vivid in their personalities. I was both irritated and pleased, depending on the situation, than when reading the manga.
That said, there was a big issue in terms of pacing, which was just off for me. This might have to do with the reason some of this material that wasn't crucial to the plot was jettisoned. The novel was slow in some areas and then sped in others.
The illustrations were pretty good. Not as good as the manga, mind you, but were nice as an addition to help the reader who hasn't read the manga yet visualize what is happening at the points at which they were included.
It was a pretty good read if one can get past a few pacing issues. Other than those, the book was enjoyable.
The light novel and manga actually covered the same ground pretty much, which is rare, as manga tends to cover less area per volume than the light novel it adapts. That said, the mangaka did cut out some information that was more extraneous and thus not really easily taken from prose to manga format.
This information gives the reader some more insights into the various characters, especially the two main protagonists, Shintaro and his sister Momo. Some of the reactions some might have to these characters from the manga (which was released prior to the novel by Yen Press, who got the license to translate and release both of these) were either enhanced or changed. No, you don't have the same chilling pictures of what Momo endures, but you do see inside her head. On the other hand, you see just how messed up and in need of some help Shintaro is.
For the rest of the Mekakushi Dan, you see the true dynamic of how they interact in the novel in a way the manga glosses over, at least in the first volume. This is no knock on the person adapting the LN, as some things were better in prose than comic format, and vice-versa. Attack on Titan seems different in it's prose format (LN) than the original manga, and the anime has differences from both, for instance.
But the above-noted differences are what made this LN worth reading. The characterization is stronger, while the aesthetic sense and visuals are stronger in the manga. Here we really learn what the characters think, feel, and so on, (at least as much as the author tells us in this book) in a way that makes them so real. Shintaro, Momo, Kido, Kano, Marie, are all so much more vivid in their personalities. I was both irritated and pleased, depending on the situation, than when reading the manga.
That said, there was a big issue in terms of pacing, which was just off for me. This might have to do with the reason some of this material that wasn't crucial to the plot was jettisoned. The novel was slow in some areas and then sped in others.
The illustrations were pretty good. Not as good as the manga, mind you, but were nice as an addition to help the reader who hasn't read the manga yet visualize what is happening at the points at which they were included.
It was a pretty good read if one can get past a few pacing issues. Other than those, the book was enjoyable.
March 6, 2019
This is pretty cool.
So far, Marie is my favorite character!
So far, Marie is my favorite character!
April 15, 2024
First novel of the series down! Before reading this you’re supposed to listen to the second album of songs in the project and there’s, like, some serious bops in there.
This novel covers mainly the same plot of the first two manga, and then also kinda the end of 4 but different. I think the plots are supposed to diverge more over time, but while they’re mostly the same, I’d say I like the novel more just cause the internal monologue can be so funny sometimes and I appreciate the extra detail you get in scenes!
This novel covers mainly the same plot of the first two manga, and then also kinda the end of 4 but different. I think the plots are supposed to diverge more over time, but while they’re mostly the same, I’d say I like the novel more just cause the internal monologue can be so funny sometimes and I appreciate the extra detail you get in scenes!
January 8, 2025
the story's interesting and i really enjoyed reading this, but the writing style isn't great? this is an english translation and some of the original story could have been lost, but it definitely reads slightly like bad fanfiction.
i really like the kagerou project soundtrack though, it sounds so good??
i really like the kagerou project soundtrack though, it sounds so good??
May 28, 2015
Kagerou Daze -in a daze- is the first volume of the Kagerou Daze light novel series written by Jin (Shizen no Teki-P) with art by Sidu (formerly known as Shidu). The novel was created as a way to bridge the stories of Jin's song series, Kagerou Project. So how well did he do?
Also, heads up, I am a massive Kagerou Project fan.
I absolutely love this novel series. I previously read up to volume 5 fantranslated and it's a complex well written story. I was so happy when Yen Press acquired the rights to publish this series so naturally I picked it up and reread it with the official translation. The story of the first novel is more so introducing most of the Mekakushi-dan and giving the current situation of the characters and making slight hints toward people's pasts. Kagerou Project coming in can be very confusing, but it's so worth knowing once you understand it. The novel, in my opinion, can stand on it's own, but I think the songs composed by Jin should be viewed if you want to enjoy this series more.
The writing for this novel is amazing and is Jin's first book series at that. It has lots of detail and fun dialogue that I thoroughly enjoyed. Sidu's art is better than other certain first volume light novel art I've seen, so it's a plus. Also, her character designs are astounding and some of my favorites. Another thing to add, Sidu's art improves a LOT as the volumes go on (if you compare the art from -in a daze- with -over the dimension- you'll see how much she improved). The characters of the series don't get a lot of development this novel, this is understandable as this is the first volume of the series. Shintaro and Momo get the most depth and the other characters will as the volumes go on.
As for Yen Press's translation, I have a nitpick that stood out to me for being a big Kagerou Project fan. I'm not sure why the character Marry is named Marie in the translation, it's not a plot hurting issue, but it's strange because all of Kagerou Project's Japanese media spells it Marry.
In conclusion, I HIGHLY recommend reading Kagerou Daze -in a daze-. It's a weird story that I hope you all enjoy it.
Also, heads up, I am a massive Kagerou Project fan.
I absolutely love this novel series. I previously read up to volume 5 fantranslated and it's a complex well written story. I was so happy when Yen Press acquired the rights to publish this series so naturally I picked it up and reread it with the official translation. The story of the first novel is more so introducing most of the Mekakushi-dan and giving the current situation of the characters and making slight hints toward people's pasts. Kagerou Project coming in can be very confusing, but it's so worth knowing once you understand it. The novel, in my opinion, can stand on it's own, but I think the songs composed by Jin should be viewed if you want to enjoy this series more.
The writing for this novel is amazing and is Jin's first book series at that. It has lots of detail and fun dialogue that I thoroughly enjoyed. Sidu's art is better than other certain first volume light novel art I've seen, so it's a plus. Also, her character designs are astounding and some of my favorites. Another thing to add, Sidu's art improves a LOT as the volumes go on (if you compare the art from -in a daze- with -over the dimension- you'll see how much she improved). The characters of the series don't get a lot of development this novel, this is understandable as this is the first volume of the series. Shintaro and Momo get the most depth and the other characters will as the volumes go on.
As for Yen Press's translation, I have a nitpick that stood out to me for being a big Kagerou Project fan. I'm not sure why the character Marry is named Marie in the translation, it's not a plot hurting issue, but it's strange because all of Kagerou Project's Japanese media spells it Marry.
In conclusion, I HIGHLY recommend reading Kagerou Daze -in a daze-. It's a weird story that I hope you all enjoy it.
June 8, 2015
This is a novelization of a pop-song performed by a computer. Seriously.
Yamaha created a musical voice-synth program called Vocaloid, which is super popular with amateur musicians in Japan. The best Vocaloid producers can create songs that sound like they're performed by humans with just a bit of autotuning. The different voice-banks even have their own characters (Hatsune Miku being the most popular) with personalities imagined by the fans. There's even a 3D rendering program designed specifically to make music videos with different Vocaloids.
Jin's Kagerou Project is just one of the many albums to come out of the Vocaloid boom, and it's spun off its own multi-media franchise, with the album supplemented by music videos, an anime and this, the first in a series of novels that expand upon the stories of the song.
Really there are two stories here. The first is about Shintaro Kisaragi, an unemployed shut-in whose only "human" contact is a computer virus that takes the form of an annoying girl on his PC. When he accidentally spills soda on his keyboard during a holiday weekend, he has no choice but to venture out to a shopping mall and buy a new one. But wouldn't you know, this happens to be the weekend when the mall gets taken over by terrorists who threaten to blow everything up if they don't receive ten million dollars within the next half hour.
The second story concerns Shintaro's sister Momo, a budding idol who is cursed to attract attention wherever she goes, literally sparking riots just by walking down the street. Momo gets abducted by a crazy cult full of people with similar special powers. Together they'll ... do something wacky.
At this point in the series, it's not really clear where this is all going. There's lots of mysterious set-up, but the payoff at the end of the book doesn't live up to the hype. Things aren't complicated because they're complicated; the author's just making them seem complicated to hide the fact that the story is straightforward and nothing much happens (really, I think there are five scenes in the whole novel).
Yamaha created a musical voice-synth program called Vocaloid, which is super popular with amateur musicians in Japan. The best Vocaloid producers can create songs that sound like they're performed by humans with just a bit of autotuning. The different voice-banks even have their own characters (Hatsune Miku being the most popular) with personalities imagined by the fans. There's even a 3D rendering program designed specifically to make music videos with different Vocaloids.
Jin's Kagerou Project is just one of the many albums to come out of the Vocaloid boom, and it's spun off its own multi-media franchise, with the album supplemented by music videos, an anime and this, the first in a series of novels that expand upon the stories of the song.
Really there are two stories here. The first is about Shintaro Kisaragi, an unemployed shut-in whose only "human" contact is a computer virus that takes the form of an annoying girl on his PC. When he accidentally spills soda on his keyboard during a holiday weekend, he has no choice but to venture out to a shopping mall and buy a new one. But wouldn't you know, this happens to be the weekend when the mall gets taken over by terrorists who threaten to blow everything up if they don't receive ten million dollars within the next half hour.
The second story concerns Shintaro's sister Momo, a budding idol who is cursed to attract attention wherever she goes, literally sparking riots just by walking down the street. Momo gets abducted by a crazy cult full of people with similar special powers. Together they'll ... do something wacky.
At this point in the series, it's not really clear where this is all going. There's lots of mysterious set-up, but the payoff at the end of the book doesn't live up to the hype. Things aren't complicated because they're complicated; the author's just making them seem complicated to hide the fact that the story is straightforward and nothing much happens (really, I think there are five scenes in the whole novel).
June 10, 2020
So, for the unaware, the Kagerou Daze light novel series is another branch of the much more expansive Kagerou Project. While I won't be covering them here, I heavily suggest at least listening to the original vocaloid songs. They'll give you a good idea of the story and characters before heading in, and will hopefully save you from being monumentally confused. I suppose you could consider it a problem that you'd need to do such a thing, but trust me, it'll be worth it.
Now, onto the main topic; Vol. 1.
I'll be throwing in some spoilers to help prove some of my points, but I'll do my best to be vague. While this volume may be not as packed with juicy lore and answers as others, trust me, getting heavily spoiled for this series is a REAL downer.
So, the plot of this novel revolves around two character perspectives; Shintaro and Momo Kisaragi. Shintaro's POV is given to us mostly in the second chapter of the book, giving us an outsider perspective of the main event. The rest of the book, save for three chapters that I'll get to later, revolve around his sister, Momo, who gets involved with a group of strange individuals calling themselves the Mekakushi Dan. In truth, the story of this volume isn't all that important. It mostly serves as an excuse to introduce us to the characters we'll be following throughout this series. Not that it's bad, per se, but I wouldn't call it anything special.
Now, for the meat and potatoes of this volume; the characters. Starting with our leading roles, Shintaro Kisaragi is an eighteen year old shut in. He's an aspiring musician and a bit of an asshole. We get a hint of his back story toward the end of his main chapter, but so far, this is what we know about him. As such, I don't feel ready to make a judgement on his character. Living inside his computer is the mysterious troublemaker known as Ene (helping the chapter title, Artificial Enemy, make plenty of sense.) She's been known to change Shintaro's passwords, rename and delete files, and even threatens to reveal some "interesting information" should he not comply with her demands. Most of the time their conversations and bickering make for some fun exchanges, but there are some times where I can find her more annoying than anything else. Early on in the second chapter, when Shintaro demands she give him the new password to his video account, she proceeds to delete all the work he's done on his recent song and pull up a multiple choice quiz to make him earn his passwords back. I understand I might just be sensitive, but that was one of the few times where her actions bordered on agitation. Like Shintaro, I don't have a good enough grasp on her character to make a judgement, but my current impression of her is mixed.
Our final lead character is Momo Kisaragi, who by far and away gets the most characterization in this volume. In short, she's a pop idol who draws everyone's attention just by being noticed. As I read through her section of the book, it became pretty clear to me that she was my favorite character this volume. Seeing how this power negativity affects both her personal and school life makes me empathize with her more than anyone else so far.
The rest of the characters in this volume, the members of the Mekakushi Dan, are played more as a collection of weirdos for now. Of course, we do get an idea of their personalities; Kido, the group leader, speaks with a cool tone and spends a good amount of her time on page giving her fellow member, a cat-eyed boy named Kano, plenty of beatings. This is mostly due to his interest in poking fun at the other members and being so carefree that I have a hard time believing during his conversations with others that anyone actually likes him. The one who seems to get the worst of his torment is a girl named Marie. She's a shy, innocent, naive person(?) who seems oblivious to how the world works, much to the dismay of Kido and Kano. They certainly make a mixed impression, but I'll again have to hold judgement until further notice.
Overall, the characters of this volume make a mostly good impression, especially Momo, and it's easy to say that they carry this volume. Ultimately, your enjoyment of this book will come down to if you enjoy the characters more than anything else.
Before I get to the writing, I want to address something. Three chapters in the book, named Kagerou Days, are completely pointless. The two characters that narrate these chapters serve no importance to this volume's story, nor do we get a good enough idea of their characters to have it be enjoyable in that way. Each chapter is only two pages long, so removing them wouldn't be detrimental to the story, and they only really have some kind of payoff in the epilogue, whose only purpose is to lead into the second volume without it being jarring, but not having those chapters doesn't change the epilogue at all. They may have a point in a later volume, but not here.
My biggest problem with the book actually isn't the chapter's stated above (they're a mild annoyance at most) but rather with the dialogue. Towards the second half of the book there will be a lot of instances of dialogue without telling us who's saying what, which in itself isn't a problem. In fact, it's a good way of making people pay attention to dialogue to discern different speech patterns for different characters. The problem here, though, is that a lot of the character's dialogue sounds the same. The difference between Kano and Momo's speech patterns can be hard to discern, and occasionally Kido can get jumbled with everyone else. The only one who's easy to tell is Marie, due to the fact that most of her dialogue includes an ellipsis. It gets confusing and can often ruin the tension of certain scenes. An easy fix would be to just say who's speaking, but making character speech more distinct, while difficult, will serve the double purpose of making the point above unnecessary, and making your writing more interesting.
In conclusion, Kagerou Daze Vol. 1 was a fun, short read. Despite some mixed feelings on characters, pointless chapters, and confusing writing, the characters have this charm to them that make reading their antics an enjoyable experience. The hints at a bigger story and the many questions left unanswered leave me excited for more. As a first volume, it does its job well. Hopefully the next volume fixes some of the problems stated above, and If it does, I might have a new favorite series on my hands.
Rating: 3.5/5
Now, onto the main topic; Vol. 1.
I'll be throwing in some spoilers to help prove some of my points, but I'll do my best to be vague. While this volume may be not as packed with juicy lore and answers as others, trust me, getting heavily spoiled for this series is a REAL downer.
So, the plot of this novel revolves around two character perspectives; Shintaro and Momo Kisaragi. Shintaro's POV is given to us mostly in the second chapter of the book, giving us an outsider perspective of the main event. The rest of the book, save for three chapters that I'll get to later, revolve around his sister, Momo, who gets involved with a group of strange individuals calling themselves the Mekakushi Dan. In truth, the story of this volume isn't all that important. It mostly serves as an excuse to introduce us to the characters we'll be following throughout this series. Not that it's bad, per se, but I wouldn't call it anything special.
Now, for the meat and potatoes of this volume; the characters. Starting with our leading roles, Shintaro Kisaragi is an eighteen year old shut in. He's an aspiring musician and a bit of an asshole. We get a hint of his back story toward the end of his main chapter, but so far, this is what we know about him. As such, I don't feel ready to make a judgement on his character. Living inside his computer is the mysterious troublemaker known as Ene (helping the chapter title, Artificial Enemy, make plenty of sense.) She's been known to change Shintaro's passwords, rename and delete files, and even threatens to reveal some "interesting information" should he not comply with her demands. Most of the time their conversations and bickering make for some fun exchanges, but there are some times where I can find her more annoying than anything else. Early on in the second chapter, when Shintaro demands she give him the new password to his video account, she proceeds to delete all the work he's done on his recent song and pull up a multiple choice quiz to make him earn his passwords back. I understand I might just be sensitive, but that was one of the few times where her actions bordered on agitation. Like Shintaro, I don't have a good enough grasp on her character to make a judgement, but my current impression of her is mixed.
Our final lead character is Momo Kisaragi, who by far and away gets the most characterization in this volume. In short, she's a pop idol who draws everyone's attention just by being noticed. As I read through her section of the book, it became pretty clear to me that she was my favorite character this volume. Seeing how this power negativity affects both her personal and school life makes me empathize with her more than anyone else so far.
The rest of the characters in this volume, the members of the Mekakushi Dan, are played more as a collection of weirdos for now. Of course, we do get an idea of their personalities; Kido, the group leader, speaks with a cool tone and spends a good amount of her time on page giving her fellow member, a cat-eyed boy named Kano, plenty of beatings. This is mostly due to his interest in poking fun at the other members and being so carefree that I have a hard time believing during his conversations with others that anyone actually likes him. The one who seems to get the worst of his torment is a girl named Marie. She's a shy, innocent, naive person(?) who seems oblivious to how the world works, much to the dismay of Kido and Kano. They certainly make a mixed impression, but I'll again have to hold judgement until further notice.
Overall, the characters of this volume make a mostly good impression, especially Momo, and it's easy to say that they carry this volume. Ultimately, your enjoyment of this book will come down to if you enjoy the characters more than anything else.
Before I get to the writing, I want to address something. Three chapters in the book, named Kagerou Days, are completely pointless. The two characters that narrate these chapters serve no importance to this volume's story, nor do we get a good enough idea of their characters to have it be enjoyable in that way. Each chapter is only two pages long, so removing them wouldn't be detrimental to the story, and they only really have some kind of payoff in the epilogue, whose only purpose is to lead into the second volume without it being jarring, but not having those chapters doesn't change the epilogue at all. They may have a point in a later volume, but not here.
My biggest problem with the book actually isn't the chapter's stated above (they're a mild annoyance at most) but rather with the dialogue. Towards the second half of the book there will be a lot of instances of dialogue without telling us who's saying what, which in itself isn't a problem. In fact, it's a good way of making people pay attention to dialogue to discern different speech patterns for different characters. The problem here, though, is that a lot of the character's dialogue sounds the same. The difference between Kano and Momo's speech patterns can be hard to discern, and occasionally Kido can get jumbled with everyone else. The only one who's easy to tell is Marie, due to the fact that most of her dialogue includes an ellipsis. It gets confusing and can often ruin the tension of certain scenes. An easy fix would be to just say who's speaking, but making character speech more distinct, while difficult, will serve the double purpose of making the point above unnecessary, and making your writing more interesting.
In conclusion, Kagerou Daze Vol. 1 was a fun, short read. Despite some mixed feelings on characters, pointless chapters, and confusing writing, the characters have this charm to them that make reading their antics an enjoyable experience. The hints at a bigger story and the many questions left unanswered leave me excited for more. As a first volume, it does its job well. Hopefully the next volume fixes some of the problems stated above, and If it does, I might have a new favorite series on my hands.
Rating: 3.5/5
June 5, 2016
...The high rating is completely my bias towards Kagerou Project.
Being a light novel, the writing style is nothing special, and the translation was laden with typos (in one section they referred to Kano but then referred to him with she/her pronouns, and I couldn't figure out if they mistook Kido with Kano or if they just used the wrong pronouns). However, for a novel to just read leisurely I enjoyed it, and the writing isn't so abysmal that it keeps you from enjoying it; to be honest, I rather enjoyed it.
I've listened to the original song series and watched the anime adaptation so I'm already thoroughly familiar with Kagerou's plot. What I do like, though, is that unlike Mothy's Evillious light novels (*cough* I want official translations *cough*), you don't need to be so familiar with the plot to keep up with what is happening.
This is the most serious review of any novel I've written in a long time.. You can see my priorities.
Being a light novel, the writing style is nothing special, and the translation was laden with typos (in one section they referred to Kano but then referred to him with she/her pronouns, and I couldn't figure out if they mistook Kido with Kano or if they just used the wrong pronouns). However, for a novel to just read leisurely I enjoyed it, and the writing isn't so abysmal that it keeps you from enjoying it; to be honest, I rather enjoyed it.
I've listened to the original song series and watched the anime adaptation so I'm already thoroughly familiar with Kagerou's plot. What I do like, though, is that unlike Mothy's Evillious light novels (*cough* I want official translations *cough*), you don't need to be so familiar with the plot to keep up with what is happening.
This is the most serious review of any novel I've written in a long time.. You can see my priorities.
February 26, 2022
A great way to get into the Kagerou Project as a whole! The mall shooting is always fun
May 7, 2021
My opinion on this book, or more accurately, this series as a whole, is that it is amazing and that I am glad I found this series. The great use of mystery elements in the series to keep the protagonists and the reader in the dark was excellent and made me want to keep flipping pages to see what would happen next. You cant review a book without its characters, and oh boy, these are some of the most interesting and in-depth characters I've seen in a while. each character has their own past, their own hardships, and happy moments which make them who they are. My favorite has to be Shuuya Kano, due to the amazing writing he has, his personality, motives, and actions are cohesive and all make sense, an example of this is the facade of a happy carefree person he puts on to keep the group from getting worried about him, this shows who he is as a person who puts others before himself whilst lying about it all the while. In conclusion, this is the best series I've read, well, ever. It was the book series I have most enjoyed reading, it was entertaining, it played with my heartstrings, and it was overall an excellent book I would recommend to anyone
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 26, 2023
I'm not sure what I read. Kagerou Daze is based on a series of music videos by Jin (the author) and the source material shows jn that there's only sort of a story here. The prose is interesting, but a majority of the book is spent introducing the characters, and it still takes a long time to do that and leaves you feeling like you only barely know who they are. It doesn't help that this relatively short novel has quite a large main cast. The powers that the whole story is supposed to hinge on aren't explained or really introduced at all until more than halfway through. I enjoyed my time with the book, but I'm not sure I got anything meaningful out of it in the end.
September 3, 2024
Admito no estar leyendo objetivamente, así que bueno...
En verdad AMO esta saga por completo desde que iba en mi último año de primaria, y ahora ya han pasado dos años desde que egresé del secundario y es como WOAH. No tengo palabras para describir lo que siento por esta historia, así que lo único que se me ocurre es darle las gracias a Jin. Gracias por haber hecho que Kagerou Project se cruzara en mi camino un día casual, sin pensar que iba a gustarme tanto. Ojalá algún día se resuelva la batalla legal sobre los derechos y salgan más canciones y más historias. Te amo Jin <3
Esta va pa' 1st PLACE 🖕
En verdad AMO esta saga por completo desde que iba en mi último año de primaria, y ahora ya han pasado dos años desde que egresé del secundario y es como WOAH. No tengo palabras para describir lo que siento por esta historia, así que lo único que se me ocurre es darle las gracias a Jin. Gracias por haber hecho que Kagerou Project se cruzara en mi camino un día casual, sin pensar que iba a gustarme tanto. Ojalá algún día se resuelva la batalla legal sobre los derechos y salgan más canciones y más historias. Te amo Jin <3
Esta va pa' 1st PLACE 🖕
October 6, 2016
“Eyes are the gateway to one’s soul” is a perfect way to describe Kagerou Daze written by Jin (Shizen No Teki-P). Kagerou Daze was originally a japanese series of songs, that uniquely used music to tell a deep narrative story. After is astounding popularity the creator, Jin (Shizen No Teki-p,) wrote a fiction novel that was eventually translated into English. Jin (Shizen No Teki-P) masterfully blends mystery, action, slice of life, and drama, in this must read young adult book. Kagerou Daze starts off as a light hearted story and slowly pulls the reader into a dark and thought provoking narrative.
The novel begins with Shintaro Kisaragi and his faithful cybernetic companion Ene, who are unwillingly forced to leave the comfort of their home, after 2 years of being shut in his room. The world has changed in those 2 years and Shintaro and Ene have to face reality forced upon them.
Being an avid fan of the Kagerou Daze series before the novels came out, it came to be pleasant surprise that novels expanded the series story by adding much needed details, such as the thought process of each character, for example the explanation of Shintaro’s love for cola. Each chapter changes the perspective of the story to a different character, making Jin (Shizen No Teki-P) writing style varies between each one, by doing this each character feels different and unique from one another and helps establish each one’s personality. Also with the change of perspectives the reader can see how each action of one character will affect the others personally. Though I enjoy reading this novel so much, the only thing that kept me from enjoying fully was the some of the rough patches in the English translation. This can be a problem to a reader that has not followed the series outside the novel, causing the reader to be lost and confused at times.
By blending mystery, drama, slice of life, and action, Kagerou Daze is a amazing read to readers that want a great story that reveals itself through the use of different character perspectives. Though it can be hard to follow, because of the translation from Japanese to English it is worth the read for it’s one of kind story.
The novel begins with Shintaro Kisaragi and his faithful cybernetic companion Ene, who are unwillingly forced to leave the comfort of their home, after 2 years of being shut in his room. The world has changed in those 2 years and Shintaro and Ene have to face reality forced upon them.
Being an avid fan of the Kagerou Daze series before the novels came out, it came to be pleasant surprise that novels expanded the series story by adding much needed details, such as the thought process of each character, for example the explanation of Shintaro’s love for cola. Each chapter changes the perspective of the story to a different character, making Jin (Shizen No Teki-P) writing style varies between each one, by doing this each character feels different and unique from one another and helps establish each one’s personality. Also with the change of perspectives the reader can see how each action of one character will affect the others personally. Though I enjoy reading this novel so much, the only thing that kept me from enjoying fully was the some of the rough patches in the English translation. This can be a problem to a reader that has not followed the series outside the novel, causing the reader to be lost and confused at times.
By blending mystery, drama, slice of life, and action, Kagerou Daze is a amazing read to readers that want a great story that reveals itself through the use of different character perspectives. Though it can be hard to follow, because of the translation from Japanese to English it is worth the read for it’s one of kind story.
January 27, 2025
This book was actually so cool. It might be short but it has a LOT in it. I love the concept idea of the story and can’t wait to read the next book. I’ve listened to the songs for a while, but never read the books until a couple days ago when I finished this one. It really picks up when you get to around page 35 and it gets crazy after that. One thing that I just found strange was that Shintaro is the main character of the story, but Momo, his little sister, tells the story from her perspective for the last 100 or so pages…the book is 163 pages long…
June 28, 2017
This is the first light novel of Kagerou Project, and it's honestly really fun to read! The characters are funny and likeable, and Shintaro, the main character is kinda relatable. The art in the books are beautiful, too. For me, this is a best buy.
January 6, 2021
Vamos a ver, Nestor del 2014...
Me gustó, genuinamente. No sé qué tanto de la nostalgia y mis emociones por esta saga hayan influido, pero de verdad lo disfruté. Se nota muy japonés y los dialogos son un poco extraños en ocasiones, pero no me molesta dado que es como un anime hecho novela
Me gustó, genuinamente. No sé qué tanto de la nostalgia y mis emociones por esta saga hayan influido, pero de verdad lo disfruté. Se nota muy japonés y los dialogos son un poco extraños en ocasiones, pero no me molesta dado que es como un anime hecho novela
May 23, 2025
Es ligero y sirve para conocer a los personajes. No ocurren muchas cosas, pero se ven desde distintos ángulos y eso hace que se vuelva interesante. Se indaga mucho en la psicología de los personajes y genera intriga por las preguntas sin resolver.
April 18, 2019
SOme broken English in it, but that's to be expected considering it's translated from Japanese. Overall, I highly recommend it.
June 9, 2019
I read this in one sitting because I literally could not stop.
it has a very crazy-cool Durarara feeling to it, kind of makes sense, and is absolutely hilarious.
it has a very crazy-cool Durarara feeling to it, kind of makes sense, and is absolutely hilarious.
April 3, 2020
Better than the anime but it still feels like something is missing
dnf
June 26, 2020DNF'd. This was clearly written with an anime in mind which didn't translate well into written prose. It was really hard to get into the writing style, and the main character was an absolute bum.
March 24, 2022
I love this book because it's told from a first person point of view, so we get to hear all of the character's thoughts. Shintarou's overdramatic thoughts are hilarious
August 19, 2023
yeah im just already attached to kagepro its fun
August 31, 2024
It was alright. I don't remember much from it honestly but I'd continue the series as they read pretty fast.
October 17, 2024
ok ngl I feel like the manga did it better 😭
the book was alright but i felt like it dragged on in certain parts... not bad but could've been better honestly
the book was alright but i felt like it dragged on in certain parts... not bad but could've been better honestly
June 10, 2015
This was a pretty fun story about socially awkward teens/young adults with abnormal eyes and what happens to them on Obon day (August 14). Warning, this vol comes off more as an introduction to the series, but it's a quick read and Jin's writing is easy to enjoy.
It was a bit confusing at first, especially the Kagerou Daze chapters, and the beginning of Shintaro’s POV and Momo’s POV were hard to get into. But after a certain point I had fun. The characters, while obnoxious at times, were endearing and I could really relate to some of the things they thought and went through.
I wish I could leave it at that, but I had issues, mostly with the story telling.
First things first, Kagerou Daze contains multiple 1st person povs. It wasn't until chapter 4 that I knew for sure this was the case, which did not help my confusion while reading. So I'm just going to write out the chapter names and the character pov next to it in case this bothers anyone besides me.
Kagerou Daze I - ??? POV
Jinzou Enemy - Shintaro’s POV
Kagerou Daze II - ??? POV
Kisaragi Attention - Momo’s POV
Kagerou Daze III - Hibiya’s POV
Mekakushi Chord - Momo’s POV
Epilogue - Shintaro’s POV
Once I figured this out it was easy to adapt, and the characters were different enough I could tell them apart. And, well ignoring the Kagerou Daze chapters that were three or so pages long and didn’t have anything to do with the main plot really helped my enjoyment too.
But the main problem for me was the structure of the book.
To make this clearer I’m going to give a brief summary of the events in each chapter.
Jinzou Enemy takes place during the events of Mekakushi Chord , in fact Jinzou Enemy could’ve been cut completely and not have made much difference (outside of explaining Ene).
Kisaragi Attention takes place before Jinzou Enemy in the morning.
Mekakushi Chord takes place a little before, during, and after Jinzou Enemy .
Epilogue takes place after Mekakushi Chord and either after or during one or more of the Kagerou Daze chapters. Epilogue felt a bit rushed, events were paraphrased and suddenly setup for the next books plot is introduced, the end. Spoilerish, it’s implied next book will also focus on one day, this time a long, long “day.”
The flow of the story felt like a mess, redundant, or plain unnecessary at times. I don’t know if this is because these are based on songs the author wrote or what but I was not a fan.
But still, I had fun. I liked the characters, I’m unclear where this is going or if its ever going to go somewhere, and the writing was easy when it wasn’t summarizing and skipping over having good transitions.
And well the space between paragraphs at random was random. Not to mention since I knew what was coming I didn’t enjoy Mekakushi Chord as much as I wanted to. But, no I had fun… ignoring the Kagerou Daze chapters.
Final Thoughts: It’s too soon to tell, but I liked the characters and had fun so I’ll read the second book before making a decision. I hope the story is more linear or at least doesn’t repeat the same event from different character’s povs. Its no fun waiting for what I know is going to happen to happen.
June 20, 2016
It takes a little effort getting into the flow since the first chapter is short and the second one immediately switches point of view, but after that the story kicks off and things get interesting.
I used to wonder what the difference would be between a light novel and a Manga. Basically, a light novel is prose with occasional full page images.
The entire story can be described as an intricate detective/fantasy/adventure tale with 9 main characters and a number of important side characters. This first novel introduces 6 of the main characters and flashes on a few more. The series hasn't been completed yet so beware before you begin! Also it's part of a rather large franchise.
You can read the novel without knowing other parts of the franchise since they all branch off into alternate storylines at one point or other. Though for me, that's actually the reason I got hooked into exploring these stories. So far I've searched the songs on Youtube (fans have provided subtitles so you can figure them out); I've seen the Anime and I accidentally got the first Manga thinking it was the first novel. Consider yourself warned. This is a story universe that can suck you in completely!
If you want to broaden the story experience here's how the novel ties in with the rest:
Songs: the novel is an expansion of: Kagerou Daze, Jinzou Enemy and Kisaragi Attention.
Anime: this volume was adapted into episodes 1, 3 and 4. Episodes 2 and 5 present alternate storylines of the chapters Kisaragi attention and the Epilogue.
Manga: the chapters Jinzou Enemy and Kisaragi Attention are featured in the first Manga volume.
I used to wonder what the difference would be between a light novel and a Manga. Basically, a light novel is prose with occasional full page images.
The entire story can be described as an intricate detective/fantasy/adventure tale with 9 main characters and a number of important side characters. This first novel introduces 6 of the main characters and flashes on a few more. The series hasn't been completed yet so beware before you begin! Also it's part of a rather large franchise.
You can read the novel without knowing other parts of the franchise since they all branch off into alternate storylines at one point or other. Though for me, that's actually the reason I got hooked into exploring these stories. So far I've searched the songs on Youtube (fans have provided subtitles so you can figure them out); I've seen the Anime and I accidentally got the first Manga thinking it was the first novel. Consider yourself warned. This is a story universe that can suck you in completely!
If you want to broaden the story experience here's how the novel ties in with the rest:
Songs: the novel is an expansion of: Kagerou Daze, Jinzou Enemy and Kisaragi Attention.
Anime: this volume was adapted into episodes 1, 3 and 4. Episodes 2 and 5 present alternate storylines of the chapters Kisaragi attention and the Epilogue.
Manga: the chapters Jinzou Enemy and Kisaragi Attention are featured in the first Manga volume.
May 22, 2015
I do not know how I should approach reviewing Kagerou Daze 1. I am oddly fascinated with the anime Mekkakucity Actors, which was based on this, so since this was less incoherent than the anime, I loved it. Technically, however, I know that it is not that good. The plot loop is interesting, but the characters are undeveloped, the narration doesn't feel different enough between Momo and Shintaro's POVs, and it's so short that it's basically a novella.
What it does succeed at is having narration so confident and breezy that even the dumbest stretches of this novel are a blast to read. It's so conversational that it's almost like listening as a friend tells a story, but it never meanders or loses focus.
So, in short, Kagerou Daze is an average light novel at best, but it features an idol singer befriending a tea party crazed descendant of Medusa, so I will likely pre-order volume 2.
What it does succeed at is having narration so confident and breezy that even the dumbest stretches of this novel are a blast to read. It's so conversational that it's almost like listening as a friend tells a story, but it never meanders or loses focus.
So, in short, Kagerou Daze is an average light novel at best, but it features an idol singer befriending a tea party crazed descendant of Medusa, so I will likely pre-order volume 2.
July 15, 2015
I am a fan of the Kagerou Project. Why on earth did I rate this 2 stars then?
This book is the introduction and setup of this timeline, it mainly focuses on Shintaro and Momo joining the Mekakushi-dan. Past introducing all the characters to us, it doesn't have much else going for it at this point. In the last portion it sets up more questions and a cliffhanger, making it more interesting.
I feel like if somebody was new to the franchise and read this first, they wouldn't really understand fully what's going on.
I'm reluctant to comment on the writing because it is indeed a translation. It feels unfair to compare it to an English novel.
All in all, this volume isn't my favourite but I like the story considerably more in future volumes. I will be picking up the future releases from YenPress On.
This book is the introduction and setup of this timeline, it mainly focuses on Shintaro and Momo joining the Mekakushi-dan. Past introducing all the characters to us, it doesn't have much else going for it at this point. In the last portion it sets up more questions and a cliffhanger, making it more interesting.
I feel like if somebody was new to the franchise and read this first, they wouldn't really understand fully what's going on.
I'm reluctant to comment on the writing because it is indeed a translation. It feels unfair to compare it to an English novel.
All in all, this volume isn't my favourite but I like the story considerably more in future volumes. I will be picking up the future releases from YenPress On.
October 6, 2015
So, first off, I'm SUPER grateful that Yen Press is translating these into English. This series is pretty obscure, so I'm pleasantly surprised that Yen Press picked it up.
That being said, I have a few nitpicks.
The front cover is too short for the first page. There's a fold out poster of the cast, but it's super tucked it, and tore in several places as I was trying to unfold it.
Still, I'm glad I can support this series in a format I can actually read!
The prose itself is... pretty wonky, but I assume that's just the writing style. Lots of weird pauses, character A saying a thing and character B reacting as if they said something else. It's weird that Marry is spelled as Marrie - I wonder which is correct?
On a shit-fan note, I'm a Kido/Momo shipper, so I lost my shit at Momo thinking that Kido is "classically beautiful".
That being said, I have a few nitpicks.
The front cover is too short for the first page. There's a fold out poster of the cast, but it's super tucked it, and tore in several places as I was trying to unfold it.
Still, I'm glad I can support this series in a format I can actually read!
The prose itself is... pretty wonky, but I assume that's just the writing style. Lots of weird pauses, character A saying a thing and character B reacting as if they said something else. It's weird that Marry is spelled as Marrie - I wonder which is correct?
On a shit-fan note, I'm a Kido/Momo shipper, so I lost my shit at Momo thinking that Kido is "classically beautiful".
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